Mekoprint acquires Seritronic and strengthens market position in Europe
Danish industrial group Mekoprint has just acquired the company Seritronic. Together, the two companies will achieve an even stronger market position and become one of the largest companies in Europe in the manufacture of membrane keyboards, operating and display solutions and graphic foils.
Industrial group Mekoprint in Støvring has increased its turnover significantly in recent years, and now the company is continuing its growth journey with the acquisition of Seritronic. The acquisition is part of Mekoprint’s growth strategy, which includes major investments in new skills, production technologies and companies that strengthen Mekoprint’s position in the market.
– Mekoprint and Seritronic complement each other very well. Seritronic is a professional and well-run organisation with a special ability to quickly develop solutions in collaboration with customers. At Mekoprint, we have strong engineering skills for the more demanding customer needs and also work closely with customers on their product development. The merger will give us a broader skillset, which will benefit all our customers, says Mekoprint CEO, Anders Kold.
In terms of products, Seritronic has a particularly strong position in complete box-build solutions and rapid prototyping, while Mekoprint has particular strengths in product development and production maturation. The two companies are both among the largest manufacturers in Scandinavia in the membrane keyboards, operating and display solutions and graphic foils segment. Following the acquisition, the combined concern will be the largest in Northern Europe in this segment and among the three largest in Europe with a total turnover of over EUR 34 million.
Seritronic has 60 employees and generated turnover of EUR 15 million in 2022, while Mekoprint has more than 700 employees and generated turnover of EUR 98 million in the 2021/22 financial year. Seritronic’s owners, Birgitte Helenius and Hans Henrik Pedersen, note that the sale to Mekoprint is the right solution in order to future-proof the company.
– Seritronic is at a point where there is a need for a generational change. By selling to Mekoprint, we secure our employees’ jobs and, not least, we send a signal to our customers that Seritronic will be in good hands in the future. Through many meetings and dialogues with Mekoprint, we have learned that our values are aligned, both regarding customers and employees. We have emphasised this in our decisions during the sales process. Birgitte and I have the deepest respect for Mekoprint, and there is no doubt that customers will benefit from our shared competences in the future. In addition, both Birgitte and I look forward to becoming part of Mekoprint, says Hans Henrik Pedersen, who founded Seritronic in 2000 with Birgitte Helenius and Hans Spliid Hansen.
In 2015, the latter sold his share to the other two and retired. The company currently has a 3,200 square metre factory in Støvring, where Mekoprint also has three factories and its headquarters.
Strengthened sales organisation
The overall sales organisation will be significantly strengthened in connection with the merger. Seritronic already has a strong business partner in Germany and a sales office in Sweden. In particular, Anders Kold has high expectations for expansion in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), and Mekoprint is already well positioned in Germany, where the company has been working with a number of large customers for many years.
With the merger, Mekoprint and Seritronic will also strengthen their presence in Asia, where both companies have close relationships with strong partners. In the new setup, the companies will improve their ability to develop customised products and deliver them from Asia, Denmark and Eastern Europe.
Major investments in growth
Mekoprint’s acquisition of Seritronic is part of the concern’s ambitious growth strategy, which involves investments of more than EUR 20 million into new technology and capacity expansions over a three-year period. The investments will be made primarily to meet the increasing demand and to support Mekoprint’s ambition to reach a turnover of EUR 135 Million by 2025.
The acquisition will see Seritronic change its name to Mekoprint Seritronic and continue as an independent subsidiary in Mekoprint’s Graphic Electronics division. Morten E. Lundgreen is the Divisional Manager here, and he will also be the new CEO of Mekoprint Seritronic. Birgitte Helenius will continue as Director of Finance and Organisational Development, while Hans Henrik Pedersen will continue as Director of Sales and Business Development.
– I look forward to realising our shared growth strategy. There is no doubt that the merger makes the two companies even stronger, and it will be exciting to work with all the new colleagues in Mekoprint Seritronic. I have worked with several of them before, and look forward to resuming our collaboration,” says Morten E. Lundgreen.
