London, UK – June 4, 2018 – Element has today announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to purchase vohtec Qualitätssicherung GmbH (vohtec) in Southern Germany, significantly strengthening its European transportation footprint.
As a result of this agreement, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ will acquire four market-leading materials testing laboratories specializing in destructive and non-destructive testing (NDT) focused on the transportation sector. The laboratories in Aalen, Altbach, Garching and Bad Friedrichshall are strategically located in close proximity to some of the largest automotive OEMs and their supply chair partners, including Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW and Audi.
Charles Noall, President and CEO of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, says: ‘’We are delighted to enter into this agreement with vohtec. This acquisition is a hugely important step in the expansion of our transportation capabilities in Europe. As the market leader in North America for automotive testing, we aim to provide our European customers with the same capabilities, operational capacity and technical excellence as part of our ongoing strategy to satisfy our clients’ future testing requirements and also in support of our mission to become the world's most trusted testing partner.’’
Roland Vogt, Managing Director of vohtec, commented: ‘’We are extremely proud of the achievements of our team and the strong reputation we have built since our company was founded in 1997. What started as a company of four people has now grown into the leading material testing provider to the German automotive sector with over 360 experts delivering more than 30 different destructive and non-destructive materials testing methods across four locations in Germany.
Becoming part of the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Group means that we will continue to deliver technical and service excellence to our customers, whilst further expanding our capabilities and capacity to better support their needs.”
Christian Futterlieb, Managing Director of VR Equitypartner, majority owner of vohtec, added: “We see vohtec joining forces with ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, a market leader in automotive testing services, as the natural next step to support the continued growth of the business in Germany and internationally.”
The DIN EN ISO 9001: 2015 and DIN EN ISO / IEC 17025: 2005 accredited facilities specialize in a widevariety of non-destructive and destructive testing services including: liquid penetrant inspection (PT); radiographic inspection (RT); eddy current inspection; visual inspection; tomography, tensile testing; impact testing and failure analysis.
The purchase of vohtec is expected to be completed by the end of June 2018 subject to the receipt of German regulatory approvals.
About ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½
In June 2017, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ acquired to create one, world-class global testing services partner. Element specializes in providing a comprehensive range of materials and product qualification testing, consulting, certification and calibration services to the global Aerospace; Transportation & Industrials, Fire & Building Products and Oil & Gas and Infrastructure sectors.
ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s expanded network of 6,200 Engaged Experts operate out of nearly 200 laboratories in more than 30 countries and are trusted by organizations to test and advise on the safety, quality, performance and compliance of their products, systems and operations.
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“This acquisition is a hugely important step in the expansion of our transportation capabilities in Europe.”
Charles Noall
President & ceo