HALEX Group acquires Forte Wärmebehandlung

Livingstone’s Industrial sector team has advised HALEX Holding GmbH, Aldenhoven, on its acquisition of 100% of the shares in Forte Wärmebehandlung GmbH, based in Stollberg (Erzgebirge). The seller is Forte Heat Treatments Limited.

Forte Wärmebehandlung GmbH is specialised in heat and surface treatments of metallic materials with state-of-the-art automated production lines. Forte’s quality standards are geared, among other areas, to the automotive supply industry. With 15 years of experience and around 70 employees, the company generates an annual turnover of more than €8m and has established itself stably in the heat treatment market.

The HALEX GROUP was founded in 1990 and is a successful German corporate group with two business divisions. The Aldenhoven-based company is one of the leading manufacturers of aluminium extrusion tools and service providers for metal finishing by heat treatment and hardening techniques in Europe. HALEX now has around 460 employees and 12 locations in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania.

“Forte is an excellent addition to our group of companies,” explains Sven Killmer, Managing Director of HALEX Holding GmbH. “Above all, we are pleased that the experienced management stays as the leadership team. Incorporated into our HALEX holding structure, they can continue on the road to success in recent years and, together with our support, invest more in employees, production capacities and new technologies. We warmly welcome Forte to the HALEX family.”

Dietmar Feiler, Managing Director of Forte Wärmebehandlung GmbH, adds: “HALEX Holding offers our company a clear added value in many areas. In addition to the many advantages of a medium-sized group of companies, HALEX has convinced us through its medium-sized corporate culture and decentralised management strategy. In concrete terms, this means that we will be supported on a demand-driven basis in future, but at the same time, we can continue to make decisions for our local market ourselves.”

“We are happy to have successfully advised HALEX Holding GmbH on this transaction. In the course of our ongoing buy-side mandate, the acquisition of Forte is a significant first step in the Company’s growth strategy within the heat treatment and hardening techniques business”, commented Ralph Hagelgans, Partner and Philip Dorsemagen, Director at Livingstone in Düsseldorf.