Hillenbrand buying Schenck’s Food and Performance Materials business

Industrial company Hillenbrand Inc. has acquired industrial equipment maker Schenck Process Group’s Food and Performance Materials (FPM) business for US$730 million, in a deal that increases its footprint in the food, plastics, and chemicals markets.

In a May 25 news release, officials with Batesville, Ind.-based Hillenbrand said that FPM, which is headquartered in Kansas City, specializes in the design, manufacturing, and service of feeding, filtration, baking, depositing, milling, and material handling equipment, and systems for the food, plastics, chemicals, and construction material industries. The FPM business also has operations in the UK, Thailand, and Brazil.

“At closing, FPM will become a part of Coperion’s food, health and nutrition division, joining previous acquisitions Linxis Group, Peerless, and Gabler,” the release said. “Coperion will benefit from scale in attractive food categories, including pet food and alternative proteins, as well as plastics and chemicals, and will be able to offer more value to global customers through FPM’s highly engineered processing solutions and proprietary technology portfolio.”

“For our polymer, chemicals, and minerals business, this acquisition means an expansion of our existing product portfolio, and we will be able to offer our customers even better solutions”, Ulrich Bartel, president of Coperion, added.

The transaction is expected to close during Hillenbrand’s fiscal fourth quarter of 2023.

Hillenbrand is also the owner of injection molding machinery maker Milacron, as well as the Mold Masters and DME brands.