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Manufacturer IdraPrince sold to Swiss firm
8/15/2006
By PATRICK REVERE Business editor
IdraPrince, the Holland die casting machine manufacturer, has been purchased by Swiss-owned Buhler.
Prince Machine, one of the late Edgar Prince's former companies, has been owned by Idra, an Italian investment house, since August 2000. Its sale to Buhler brings the manufacturer back under ownership by another die casting equipment manufacturer.
Mark Los, president of the local employer now called BuhlerPrince, said the Swiss company made the purchase for an undisclosed price to strengthen its presence in North America.
"Buhler was looking for a North American manufacturer that had a large part of the market segment here. They were able to pick up 40 to 50 percent of the market here in die casting equipment by picking up IdraPrince," Los said.
"For us, the great thing is that Holland becomes the center of expertise for die casting equipment in North America," he said. "Although they (Buhler) already had a 20 to 25 percent market share here in North America, they increased that and, with the combination between Buhler and Prince, we are the key player."
BuhlerPrince employs about 115 people at 671 Windcrest Drive, near the northwest corner of U.S. 31 and 32nd Street.
Production workers at the facility make machines for die casting, which is the process of making engineered metal parts by forcing molten metal under high pressure into reusable steel molds. The molds, called dies, can be designed to produce parts for a variety of industries, including the fabrication of engine blocks and transmission casings for automakers.
Buhler's North American headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minn., but at least a portion of its workforce will be coming to Holland.
"With this move, we'll have another 15 to 20 employees locating here for engineering, finance, sales and some purchasing positions," Los said.
"We plan to incorporate some of the Buhler equipment manufacturing into our facility here as well," he said. "During the next 12 to 16 months we hope to be adding new production employee positions here as we add that ability to build the Buhler equipment."
Randy Thelen, president of Lakeshore Advantage, the Zeeland-based regional economic development corporation, said he continues to be encouraged by smaller incremental job growth in the area.
"We've seen that time and time again, adding up to substantial numbers," he said.
"Basically the whole die-casting equipment industry has gone through some serious changes, and IdraPrince, now BuhlerPrince, has weathered that storm and is coming out very strong," Thelen said. "To see them continuing to grow with this sale certainly is great news."
Buhler has about 150 employees in North America and about 6,200 globally. The company also has interests in furniture, food processing and chemical processing, according to its Web site.
Contact Patrick Revere at patrick.revere@hollandsentinel.com or (616) 546-4280.
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