With the takeover of additional sales companies in Great Britain and Sweden, Bystronic strengthens its leading position in these countries and underpins its successful strategy of direct sales in the central markets.

Backdated to the 1st of January 2005, the Swiss Bystronic Group has acquired the two sales companies Pullmax Ltd UK and Pullmax Scandinavia AB, with registered offices in Leeds (UK) and Göteborg (Sweden) respectively, from the Swedish Karolin Machine Tool (KMT) AB.

"With this acquisition we will now be able to satisfy customer requirements in the corresponding countries even better and achieve direct control over the customer services area which in future will play a central role in adding value", is how the Bystronic CEO Ferdi Töngi explains the strategic background to the acquisition. He rates the growth potential in the markets in Great Britain and Sweden as high.

Both companies have in the past sold Bystronic products and services in the countries they serve and will now be fully integrated in the existing Bystronic organization.

In Great Britain and Ireland Bystronic will in future be represented by two subsidiary companies: Pullmax Ltd UK continues as a separate company and as before will be responsible for the sale of laser cutting machines and waterjet cutting machines together with the associated services. Edwards Pearson Ltd, which in the past was already responsible for the sales and services for the Bystronic pressbrakes of the Beyeler and AFM ranges, will now take over these tasks for the Hämmerle portfolio of pressbrakes. The two companies will further concentrate their combined efforts in marketing.

Also in Sweden, the existing companies will continue to exist for the moment and will be merged at a later date. Until then Pullmax Scandinavia AB will continue to be responsible for sales and Bystronic AB for the services of all Bystronic products. After the merger, all tasks will be concentrated in the still to be founded Bystronic Scandinavia AB.

The takeover does not involve Pullmax Machine AB, which is also based in Sweden and produces stamping machines. This company will remain in the ownership of KMT AB. "The Bystronic strategy is clearly based on the concentration on cutting and bending", stresses Ferdi Töngi and emphasizes that this is in no way diluted by the fact that in future products manufactured by Pullmax Machine AB will be sold in the context of a representative agreement in Great Britain, Ireland and Sweden.

The contractual partner KMT AB is a Swedish company which is quoted on the OM Stockholm Exchange and which is active in the precision machine tool business (grinding machines, pump technologies for waterjet cutting, sheet metal processing). As explained by Lars Bergström, the CEO of KMT, they will in future concentrate on the development and sales of stamping machines and fully-automated systems.