600 Group acquires Polish facility

The Tarnow facility formerly carried out civil production activities within a subsidiary of ZMT, itself part of the Bumar Group, Poland's largest state-owned defence business. 600 Group assumes management control of the facility with immediate effect. The acquisition relates to assets amounting to an aggregate value of €1 million, representing fixed assets, tooling and inventory, together with 195 employees, and is subject to regulatory approval by the courts in Poland. On receipt of court approval, €500,000 of the cash consideration will be settled, €250,000 by 2 February 2011 and €250,000 by 31 July 2011. "This is an important step forward for 600 Group," said 600 Group chief executive David Norman (pictured). "It fundamentally changes our machine tools business model, with the facility in Tarnow combining with our UK factories to give an EU manufacturing footprint capable of servicing the requirements of our international sales organisation with lead time and quality benefits for our customers. "Ultimately, once the new facility has been successfully integrated, we expect a significant shortening of the supply chain to reduce the working capital requirements of the Group. "We also see the potential benefits of having a skilled workforce able to manufacture products which will complement our activities in the precision components area as well as machine tools. We also believe the Central and Eastern European markets will become strategically more important for the Group."