Packaging Partners, a newly formed Australian company with its sights on investing in private or family owned Asia Pacific packaging machinery businesses, signed an agreement at AUSPACK yesterday to buy the share of Foodmach owned by retiring company chairman, Chris Bishop.
Bishop, who has been chairman of the company for 11 years, was also its biggest shareholder.
Packaging Partners, run by directors Phillip Biggs and Geoff Murdoch, is in the process of investing in a number of machinery distributors and manufacturers with a focus on the food, dairy and beverage sectors. The Foodmach acquisition marks the company's first investment in the tertiary machinery segment.
Phil Biggs has over 20 years' experience in the packaging sector in engineering, sales and marketing leadership roles. For the past few years he has assisted a number of packaging companies to secure large project orders.
Geoff Murdoch's career has covered finance, accounting, mergers and acquisitions for global professional services organisations. For the last ten years he has run his own business advisory practice.
Commenting on the investment, Biggs said: “We are delighted to be working with the team at Foodmach to build on their strong presence in the Australian marketplace.”
Biggs told PKN he sees growth potential for the business offshore, on the technical support side and in rolling out the company's signature Robomatrix solution to small and medium-sized food and beverage manufacturers.
Foodmach is exhibiting on Stand 656, showcasing its next generation Robowizard and, in partnership with Heuft, the Heuft Prime and eXaminer XB inspection technology.
