GEA Sells Compressor Manufacturer Bock to NORD Holding

Düsseldorf, Germany-based GEA Group announced on September 22 that it is selling the compressor manufacturer Bock, which is in GEA’s Refrigeration Technologies division, to NORD Holding, a German private-equity asset-management company.

The purchase agreement was signed on September 21. Financial details were not disclosed. The transaction, subject to regulatory clearance, is expected to close in early 2021. “We are pleased to have found a new owner for Bock in NORD Holding,” said Stefan Klebert, CEO of GEA Group, in a statement. “It is our firm conviction that NORD Holding will develop Bock’s business potential as a producer of commercial compressors mainly for use in stationary and transport-related cooling applications in the best possible way.”

In its announcement, GEA, which is a major manufacturer of compressors for CO₂ and ammonia applications, described the transaction as “part of its continued focus on strategic core markets – the food, beverages and pharmaceutical industries.” In addition, the transaction will enable GEA’s Refrigeration Technologies division to “concentrate in the future on our industrial compressors business,” said Klebert. “Our portfolio here includes customized solutions for the optimum use of waste heat, enabling our customers to operate their production facilities ever more sustainably or even become carbon neutral.”

At shecco’s Virtual Trade Show held globally September 1-2,  David Blankley, Product Manager-Advanced Refrigeration at GEA Refrigeration Technologies, pointed out in a webinar that natural refrigerants can serve as key alternatives to f-gases in every cooling application. “From the smallest domestic refrigerators to the control of exothermic reactions in chemical plants, natural refrigerants can be applied in all these applications,” he said. (shecco is the publisher of this website.)

Bock is a manufacturer of open and semi-hermetic piston compressors in the lower and medium refrigeration capacity range. The company employs some 340 people worldwide and generated sales of almost €90 million ($105.4 million) in the 2019 fiscal year. Two-thirds of the employees work at GEA Bock’s headquarters in Frickenhausen, Germany. There are three additional locations in the Czech Republic, India and China. 

GEA Group, which has a workforce of approximately 18,500 employees, generated €4.9 billion ($5.7 billion) in revenues in 2019.