MUNICH/ZITTAU, Germany — April 21, 2016 — The Munich-based Kufner Group will take over Ploucquet GmbH from Smart Solutions Holding GmbH (formerly Sympatex Holding GmbH) with effect from April 20, 2016. The sale of the company and the production site in Zittau is also the beginning of a long-term production partnership between the two well-established textile companies and Sympatex. The lamination as well as the finishing of technical textiles will also be carried out for Sympatex by the Kufner Group at the acquired site in Upper Lusatia. The integration of the Ploucquet brand into the Kufner Group will strengthen the competitiveness of the company in Zittau with 124 employees in the long run.
The Kufner Group, one of the world’s leading companies for interlining and technical textiles, will take over an important treatment provider with a modern production in Saxony by acquiring the Ploucquet GmbH. The company was founded in 1806 and looks back on a long tradition as part of the international textile industry. Today, Ploucquet is a market leader regarding the production and the distribution of lining material and a specialist for the treatment of technical textiles. “It has been our target to find a perfect partner for Ploucquet in order to secure the efficient production site Zittau in Central Europe, which is important to us, and to offer the employees in Upper Lusatia a solid perspective for the further development there. Kufner meets all of our demands in an almost ideal way,” explained Michael Kamm, managing director of Sympatex. “We have complementary products that can be perfectly combined with each other in the segment of fashion textiles as well as technical textiles,” added Kamm.
Ulrich Sogl, managing director of the Kufner Group, added: “We share the same values, we have the same goals and serve identical markets. Moreover, Kufner is very well positioned on the international market. With our international distribution structure, we will strengthen the Ploucquet brand and use the capacity of the production site in Zittau even more.”
For the Smart Solutions Holding GmbH as the parent company of Sympatex Technologies GmbH, the sale is a decisive strategic requirement for the future focus on the Sympatex brand and its important growing market of sustainable functional textiles. “With the additional resources that we gain from selling the Ploucquet GmbH, we will keep developing the internationalisation within our three main business areas Footwear, Apparel as well as Contract & Workwear,” said Kamm. “Thus, we can increase the chances of reaching our turnover and profit targets.”
Posted April 21, 2016
Source: Sympatex
