Albany International Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire Heimbach Group for €153 Million

Albany International Corp. (“Albany” or the “Company”) (NYSE: AIN) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Heimbach Group (“Heimbach”), a leading supplier of paper machine clothing, in an all cash transaction valued at approximately €153 million, including the assumption of €21 million net debt. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Albany Board of Directors and Heimbach’s shareholders. It is expected to close in the second half of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Albany will fund the transaction with cash held outside the United States.

Headquartered in Düren, Germany, Heimbach is a global supplier of paper machine clothing for the production of all grades of paper and cardboard on all machine types as well as high-tech textile products used in a variety of sectors, such as the food processing, chemicals, construction materials and automotive industries. The Company has approximately 1,200 employees and nine production facilities across Germany, China, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Italy. Heimbach had 2022 annual revenue of approximately €161 million.

“The acquisition of Heimbach is an exciting opportunity to create significant value for our shareholders as well as for our customers as the partner of choice,” said Bill Higgins, President and CEO of Albany. “With Heimbach, we gain increased scale and complementary technology, while broadening our geographic footprint to efficiently serve markets in Europe and Asia. This transaction also provides an opportunity to leverage Albany’s expertise to drive meaningful margin expansion in Heimbach’s operations and cash flows that can be reinvested in high-growth areas of the Company. We look forward to working with the Heimbach team and welcoming them to Albany.”

Marco Esper, CEO of Heimbach Group, said, “In Albany International, we found a like-minded partner who shares our commitment to best-in-class customer service and advancing modern paper production. Together, we will leverage our collective product and technology portfolios to become an even better provider to our customers. I am incredibly proud of everything that Heimbach and our team have accomplished and look forward to working closely with Albany’s leadership to reach even greater success.”

“Heimbach is a solid addition to our company,” said Daniel Halftermeyer, President of Albany’s Machine Clothing business. “Their operations are an excellent complement to Albany’s existing network of forward-deployed manufacturing assets. Together, we look forward to providing our customers with even more value in terms of logistics, delivery capability, advice and service quality.”

Strategic and Financial Benefits

• Enhances Albany’s Scale and Geographic Footprint: Heimbach’s strength in central European markets is an excellent fit with Albany’s northern European presence. Heimbach also brings additional production capacity in Asia, enhancing Albany’s ability to serve clients throughout the region.
• Provides Complementary Technology: In addition to its broad offerings in paper machine clothing, Heimbach brings technologies that support Albany’s differentiation and ability to provide customers with optimized, application-specific solutions.
• Leverages Albany’s Industry-Leading Operating Expertise to Drive Margin Expansion: Albany has identified numerous supply chain, logistics, insourcing and other operational opportunities that it expects will provide significant margin expansion in Heimbach’s operations.
• Provides Attractive Financial Returns: The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Albany’s earnings per share and cash flow beginning in year two.