Kalt and staedler: two strong companies pool their strengths and embark on a shared future

Lütisburg SG / Henau SG, November 23, 2021

The owners of Kalt Maschinenbau AG (“Kalt”) and staedler automation AG (“staedler”) have agreed to collaborate in future. Kalt, a leading international specialist in cheese, dairy and process technology, and staedler, a provider of industrial automation solutions, want to pool their strengths and show a united front to the market as a full-range provider in future, and thus accelerate the growth path achieved in past years.

The previous owners of staedler, Lukas Städler and Thomas Fäh, will be shareholders of Kalt Group and strengthen the management team at group level.

staedler is a young, dynamic and innovative company with excellent client understanding and a first-class reputation in industrial automation. staedler provides process automation and robotics solutions,  as well as industrial machines for cooking and cooling foodstuffs. Lukas Städler founded the company in 2009 and staedler now employs about 30 specialized staff. The previous owners of staedler reviewed various options to continue the strong growth of recent years. One of those options was to initiate the next growth phase with an external partner. This partner has been found in Kalt, enabling a positioning within a larger and uniform group. The two companies have complementary competencies, products and clients. Lukas Städler enthusiastically stresses: “Continuity and sustainable growth have always been important to me as the founder. Meeting our clients’ demands will remain our focus in future. The merger will improve our capacity to develop better and new innovative products more quickly and offer our clients a broad product spectrum.”

As in many sectors, automation in cheese production is continually progressing. Skills in robotics, control systems and software are becoming more important. That is precisely where Daniel Martin, CEO of Kalt Group, sees the main benefits for the company’s customers: “Kalt is known for high-quality products focusing on technology, quality and automation. The core competencies of staedler in robotics and process automation will enable us to operate as a full-range provider in the market and focus still more on automation solutions and interconnecting the entire production process.”

Antonio Cives, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Kalt Group and Managing Partner at CGS Management AG, explains: “When we acquired Kalt in mid-2020, we said the aim was to advance internationalization and broaden the product portfolio through acquisitions. Since then, we have worked intensively on expanding our geographical reach. The merger with staedler allows us to complement our product portfolio, so we can implement the jointly established strategy consistently. We are particularly pleased that Lukas Städler and Thomas Fäh are highly motivated to contribute their experience and expertise in management roles at group level in the future.“

Lukas Städler and Thomas Fäh have a significant minority share in the group, together with CEO Daniel Martin and CFO Marcel Kuhn. Kalt and staedler thus remain in entrepreneurial hands. Swiss investor CGS has a majority share in the Group.

 

For further information, please contact:

Kalt Maschinenbau AG
Daniel Martin, CEO
E: daniel.martin@kalt-ag.ch
T: +41 71 932 53 60
www.kalt-ag.ch

 

staedler automation AG
Lukas Städler, CEO
E: lukas.staedler@staedler-automation.ch
T: +41 71 945 99 10
www.staedler-automation.ch

 

CGS Management AG
Antonio Cives, Managing Partner
E: antonio.cives@cgs-management.com
T: +41 55 416 16 40
www.cgs-management.com

 

Kalt Maschinenbau AG

Kalt is a leading international manufacturer of machinery and equipment for milk processing and the production of quality cheese. The traditional company has been providing cheese-making technology to meet the highest requirements for almost six decades. Dairies all over the world place their trust in Kalt systems. The company is headquartered in Lütisburg in eastern Switzerland and has about 100 employees.

Follow Kalt on Linkedin.

 

staedler automation AG

staedler is an innovative provider of automation and robotics solutions as well as industrial cooking installations in the food and cheese industry. staedler was founded by Lukas Städler in 2009 and has posted strong growth since its inception. staedler currently has about 30 specialized staff at its modern site in Henau, Switzerland.

Follow staedler on Linkedin.

 

CGS Management AG

CGS is an independent, experienced investment firm based in Pfäffikon, Switzerland. CGS is specialized in building medium-sized companies in industrial sectors into international groups. Since 1999, CGS funds have been investing in platform companies in Europe’s German-speaking countries and making add-on acquisitions worldwide. Investments from the fourth fund are currently being made, whereby the acquisition of Kalt is the fifth platform investment.

Follow CGS on Linkedin.

Back > Download >