Taiwanese Fair Friend Group on European machine tool firm acquisition trail
1 min read
Taiwan-headquartered Fair Friend Group is reported to have recently announced a plan to invest over £60 million to acquire four machine tool plants in Europe, South Korea and Taiwan.
The report, from Taiwan economic news publication cens.com and which describes Fair Friend as "the largest machine tool conglomerate in China", adds that the acquisition will help Fair Friend generate additional annual sales of over £200 million, according to group chairman Jimmy Chu. Last year, cens.com reported that he said he wanted the group to be a world top 10 machine tool manufacturer by 2015.
Fair Friend has, this year, acquired two Italian firms, Rambaudi and ROSA. Rambaudi specialises in the production of large milling machines and machining centres and has clients that include nine of China's aircraft manufacturers.
Fair Friends' Feeler machine tool brand is represented in the UK by Southam, Warks-based Engineering Technology Group (01926 818418), which has so far installed seven machining centres in the automotive sector, since last autumn, Machinery was told.
Fair Friend has 56 subsidiaries, 19 focusing on machine tool production. The group's annual sales will double to £440 million this year, with the enterprise aiming for £577 million in 2011. Mr Chu is said to be negotiating to acquire, among others, a century-old manufacturer of vertical machining centres in Germany, with annual sales of £92 million; a manufacturer of machining centres in Italy; a manufacturer of machining centres and components in South Korea; and a machine tool manufacturer in Taiwan, with annual sales of £41 million.
