Avon Rubber Italia acquires InterPuls S.p.A

Avon is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Avon Rubber Italia S.r.l., has acquired 100% of the share capital and shareholder loan notes of InterPuls S.p.A. ('InterPuls') (the 'Acquisition'), for an enterprise value of €29.75m, including the assumption of InterPuls' net debt of approximately €4.0m. The cash consideration of €25.75m was paid on completion and was funded from existing Group cash balances and existing debt facilities.

Established in 1974 and located in Albinea, in the Province of Regio Emilia between Parma and Bologna, InterPuls is a private family owned company incorporated in Italy. InterPuls has developed a unique range of specialist milking components, including pulsators, milk meters, automatic cluster removers and vacuum pumps, enabling customers throughout the world to configure state of the art milking systems. In addition to traditional milking components, InterPuls is expanding into high-technology sensors and devices to monitor the life cycle of a cow, analysing milk production, reproduction and health data to provide critical management information to increase operational efficiency of the farm. Following the acquisition its products will be sold under the new "Milkrite-InterPuls" brand, which will be positioned as a leading provider of milking point technology, providing complete teat to pipeline solutions for the Dairy sector.

The latest audited financial statements of InterPuls, prepared as at 31 December 2014, showed gross assets of €17.0m, Net Assets of €10.0m (both adjusted to remove Goodwill and Shareholder loans) and Revenue of €15.1m, Earnings before Tax, Interest, Depreciation and Amortisation ('EBITDA') of €3.1m and Profit before Tax (adjusted to exclude the amortisation of goodwill charged under Italian GAAP) of €2.3m for the year then ending.   

Avon expects the acquisition to be significantly earnings enhancing in its 2016 financial year.

The Acquisition will broaden Avon's product range, client base and geographic reach, while the integration of Avon and InterPuls products into each company's distributor base will provide enhanced commercial growth opportunities in future years.

Mr Gabriele Nicolini, General Manager, shareholder and Director of InterPuls prior to this transaction, has entered a new employment agreement with InterPuls and committed to the business for a period of three years.

Commenting, Peter Slabbert, Chief Executive, said: "This is an important and strategic acquisition for our Dairy Division. InterPuls has developed a product portfolio of high tech milking components, telemetry and software to improve milking performance & efficiency, which complements the current Milkrite products. InterPuls significantly expands our dairy expertise, positioning us as the milking point experts, and through Milkrite-InterPuls we shall create a significant global brand with enhanced geographic growth opportunities for the future."