Hong Kong-listed Fong’s Industries Co. Ltd. (Fong’s) announced today that it has acquired a 100% stake in A. Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG (Monforts) from German based company L. Possehl Co. & GmbH (Possehl).

Monforts is based in the western German city of Mönchengladbach and the acquisition includes Monforts’ Austrian subsidiary Montex-Maschinenfabrik GmbH with its machine production site in St. Stefan.

The 50% stake in the Monforts Fong’s Textile Machinery Co. Ltd. (Monfongs), the jointly controlled entity between Fong’s and Monforts Group, is also part of the transaction. In addition, Possehl has agreed to subscribe in a 9.9% stake in a Fong’s subsidiary, which directly holds Monforts and Monfongs.

Through their joint venture Monfongs, which was established in 1998, Monforts and Fong’s have already built up a strong and successful partnership. A further milestone in their cooperation is the soon to be inaugurated ‘textile machine factory of the future’ planned in the Chinese city of Zhongshan.

The closing of the deal is subject to approval by the relevant authorities and the customary closing conditions. Fong’s and Possehl agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

“Monforts and Fong’s fit together perfectly,” said Mr. Alex Wan, Chief Executive Officer of Fong’s.

“Monforts is the leader in innovation in textile finishing machinery. It will considerably strengthen our international competitiveness, which has set course for worldwide leadership and excellence in the textile machinery business.”

Mr. Roland Hampel, Managing Director of Monforts, underlined: “Today’s announcement intensifies our long-standing cooperation with Fong’s and opens up new opportunities for Monforts. Innovation stands at the core of our daily work and we look forward to strategically developing new business areas for our customers with our trusted and successful partners in China. “

One of the main areas of future business that the heads of both companies emphasised is that of technical textiles, which offers even more specialised and tailor made machinery solutions for its customers.

Hong Kong-based Fong’s Industries Group was founded in 1963 and focuses on the design, manufacture and sale of dyeing and finishing machinery. Its holding company, Fong’s Industries Co. Ltd. was the first company of its kind to be publicly listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1990. Fong’s Industries Group has been part of the state-owned China Hi-Tech Group Corporation (CHTC) since 2011.

Monforts, based in the German city of Mönchengladbach, is a world leader in the manufacturing of textile finishing machinery, having developed cutting-edge technology in finishing machine engineering for more than 125 years.

The company holds a subsidiary company in Austria, the Montex-Maschinenfabrik GmbH with a production site in St. Stefan. Including employees in Austria, Monforts employs 160 staff and holds a large number of patents.

Monforts offers its customers tailor-made solutions and in future will extend its innovation leadership to focus on technical textiles. In 1998, Monforts Group entered a jointly controlled entity with Hong Kong-based Fong’s to form Monforts Fong’s Textile Machinery Co. Ltd. (Monfongs).