Romaco Holding GmbH reported the purchase of the Spanish manufacturer of processing technology STE Tecpharm, S. L. From now on, the company will operate under the name Romaco Tecpharm, it has initially acquired 75 per cent of the share capital of STE Tecpharm, S. L., which was previously owner-managed. The remaining 25 per cent will be transferred subsequently.
The acquisition will further strengthen the company’s processing business. The company’s drum coaters, coupled with the its conventional granulation lines and Wurster fluid bed systems, make a perfect complement to the range for processing pharmaceutical solids.
Jörg Pieper, CEO, Romaco Group, said, “With the takeover of Tecpharm and its patented high-tech tablet coating machines, we can decisively expand our portfolio. Tecpharm manufactures drum coaters that embody economic efficiency, reliability and batch flexibility – and therefore perfectly fit the products and quality standards of Innojet and Kilian. This new constellation creates valuable synergistic effects, which we intend to leverage systematically in order to offer our customers state-of-the-art processing solutions. All from one source and cast from one mould. Our processing laboratories will serve as important points of contact worldwide.”
It was founded by David Mateo, Bárbara Jané and Pedro Cuadrado in 2013 as a spin-off of the STE group. The company employs around 30 people at its present site in Rubí (Spain) near Barcelona. Its core competencies as a supplier of equipment for the pharmaceutical industry comprise the development, assembly and marketing of coating systems for tablets. In addition, the manufacturer provides various technologies for wet granulation on a laboratory and production scale. Following the transaction, it will operate as an independent, Spanish-based Business Unit of the group. The company will be run by the founder David Mateo.
David Mateo, managing director, Tecpharm, S. L., said, “I regard the exit to Romaco as a milestone in our relatively young company history. Our integration into such a successful global player will create major growth opportunities for Tecpharm. Our high-quality products are unique and represent real added value for the Romaco Group. The support we get from Romaco’s worldwide sales and service network will allow us to expand the reach of these products enormously and boost our sales accordingly. Moreover, Romaco is a very decentralised organisation, which will ease our integration with our new sister companies at eye level.”
This latest addition to the company takes the total number of production sites to five in Germany, Italy and Spain. The European pharmaceutical machinery specialist covers the entire process chain with technologies for manufacturing, processing and packing pharmaceutical solids. The processing segment will in future be made up of the Romaco Innojet, Romaco Kilian and Romaco Tecpharm product brands and their wet granulation, pellet coating, tableting and tablet coating technologies.
“The acquisition of Tecpharm, S. L. is a great chance for us to sharpen the product profiles of our processing brands. The aim is to establish Tecpharm as the dominant supplier of coating systems for tablets. Innojet will focus on granulating and coating fine solid particles. Tecpharm’s complementary technologies in this area will be integrated into the Innojet portfolio. That way, we will be optimally positioned across the board,” added Pieper.