German engineering company Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (HEIDELBERG) has finalised an agreement with the POLAR Group to acquire the technology, intellectual property (IP), and brand rights associated with the POLAR Mohr brand, along with additional assets.

This transaction is anticipated to be completed within the coming weeks.

Upon completion, HEIDELBERG will gain exclusive global sales, service, and marketing rights for POLAR Mohr's post-press products.

This acquisition is set to strengthen HEIDELBERG's position as a systems integrator in the packaging market, particularly in growth regions such as Asia, South America, and the Middle East.

The partnership between HEIDELBERG and POLAR Mohr, which dates back to the 1950s, has seen POLAR Mohr developing and manufacturing systems while Heidelberg has managed significant sales and service activities.

HEIDELBERG plans to incorporate POLAR Mohr's postpress systems into its solutions portfolio, focusing on automation, digitalisation, and workflow integration to enhance productivity in packaging and label production.

The POLAR Group's companies, under the ownership of SOL Capital Management, will continue to collaborate with HEIDELBERG for the future development, production, and assembly of POLAR Mohr systems.

HEIDELBERG CEO Jürgen Otto said: “HEIDELBERG is aiming to achieve targeted growth through M&A [merger and acquisition] activities in attractive market segments.

“This acquisition underscores our credentials as a full-range supplier for our customers in the packaging and label industry, including service, and gives us exclusivity in a growing market.

“As a systems integrator, we cover the entire value chain of a packaging print shop - on a fully integrated and networked basis - to ensure production is highly productive. POLAR Mohr systems play a key role in this context.”