The cash capital increase decided on by the Management Board and Supervisory Board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) on March 22, 2019 with Masterwork Group (as a strategic anchor investor) amounted to about 9.2% of the OEM’s existing share capital. Based on the agreed issue price of €2.68 per share, this represents additional capital amounting to about €69 million (before transaction costs). The company’s new share capital has been increased to €779,466,887.68, distributed across 304,479,253 no-par shares, said Heidelberg. The capital increase gives Heidelberg another “strategic anchor” shareholder with a “long-term investment horizon” that now holds about 8.5% of the company’s shares.
As well as improving shareholder equity, the new funds will be used primarily to accelerate the company’s digital agenda (digitizing products, processes and business models, for example) and for general business financing. Taking the collaboration with Masterwork (which dates back to 2014) to the next level is also designed to open up further potential in the growing packaging printing segment, especially in China – the world’s largest individual market, said the companies.
Masterwork Machinery GmbH in Neuss near Düsseldorf is a 100% subsidiary of Masterwork Group Company Limited in Tianjin, China (left). It’s a ‘successor company’ of Jagenberg Diana GmbH and of the folding-carton gluing division of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. Within the Masterwork Group, it’s responsible for research and development of folding-carton gluing and related machines. Nearly all of its employees have technical qualifications in the field of mechanical or electrical engineering. As a research and development site, it also has a large test facility with its own folder gluers. Masterwork’s Diana Folder-Gluers are produced in its factory in Nové Mesto nad Váhom in Slovakia, and sold through the sales and service network of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (except in China and Japan, where the company operates its own sales and service companies).
Masterwork Group Co.,Ltd was established in 1995 in Tianjiin,China specifically as a high technology manufacturer of print-finishing equipment. During the past 22 years, the company has gone from manufacturing to inventing – and then to producing a series of equipment including high-precision, high-speed, automatic die-cutting machines, high-precision automatic platen foil-stamping and die-cutting machines with hologram systems, high-speed automatic folding and gluing machines, digital quality inspection machines, digital inkjet printing machines, web-fed foil stamping/die cutting combination machines, and so on. These various products provide different types of paper packaging and printing customers with post-printing production solutions that feature high precision, high speeds and a high level of automation – from sheetfed and wed-fed, to corrugated – with professional and individualized solutions for cigarette packs, drinking packs, medicine packs, electronics and food packing. The Masterwork Group currently operates in over 30 countries worldwide.
Heidelberg completes capital increase as Masterwork from China becomes a key strategic shareholder
