Pfaff-Silberblau buys Josef Brunnhuber

Pfaff Holding has acquired Josef Brunnhuber Maschinenfabrik in a friendly takeover. Brunnhuber’s owners, brother and sister Josef and Edeltraud Brunnhuber, who are grandchildren of the original founder, decided to sell because they are retiring.

As well as increasing its turnover, the deal, agreed on 1 July, allows Pfaff to compete in new markets.

Pfaff has previously specialised in cranes up to 10t so Brunnhuber’s core business of heavy crane construction up to 500t lifting capacity substantially extends the range. Automated cranes, not previously available from Pfaff, are a major part of Brunnhuber’s business and significant growth is expected in high technology automatic cranes and related systems. In the past Brunnhuber has outsourced its winches but it can now get them from Pfaff.

Founded in 1900, Brunnhuber has around 100 employees and turned over about DM23m ($12.5m) last year. Joint general managers Siegfried Assum and Siegfried Schultz remain in charge but the company’s name changes to Brunnhuber Krantechnik GmbH and a new logo will include the silver and blue stripes of the Pfaff logo.

Like Pfaff, Brunnhuber sees itself as a “one stop shop” that can supply everything from initial planning through to commissioning and customer service. Brunnhuber can now take advantage of Pfaff’s many more distribution channels and customers.

With around four times as many employees, Pfaff’s turnover is also rather higher at more than DM140m ($76m). Pfaff says that the takeover gives it the potential to become market leader, initially for cranes up to 500t, and then beyond.