Big employer snapped up in German deal

ONE of Hyndburn’s largest employers has been acquired by a global technology group.

Great Harwood firm Metflex has been bought by Germanbased Freudenberg, in a deal which will see it become part of its international Sealing Technologies division.

Founded in 1919 and based at premises on Alan Ramsbottom Way, Metflex specialises in the manufacture and supply of precision moulded components, rubber seals and diaphragms across a global multi-industry customer base.

In its latest accounts for the year to December 2016, the company reported a turnover of £10.8 million and averaged 86 employees, including four directors.

No financial details of the acquisition have been released, but shareholders and directors Philip Rogerson and John Holland will leave the company following the deal. Managing director Dermot McCarthy will remain, together with the current senior management team.

Mr McCarthy said: “The management team welcomes the technological expertise and solid financial strength of the Freudenberg Group and looks forward to the long term development of the company’s products and markets with renewed energy.”

Dr Mohsen Sohi, CEO of Freudenberg, said: “With this acquisition, we are strengthening our established businesses in general industry with additional innovative technical solutions.”

Freudenberg is a globally active group of companies that has been under family ownership since it was founded in 1846.

It is headquartered in Weinheim in south west Germany and operates on a global scale across numerous markets.

Its Sealing Technologies division is the industry-leading specialist in sealing applications and it supplies, as well as develops, products for customers across a wide variety of industries.