Celmacch is based in Desenzano at the southern end of Lake Garda and the family-owned firm has been going for more than 40 years.
It has sales of around €20m (£17m) and 50 employees, who will continue to work in Italy.
Celmacch makes high pile flexo presses and rotary die cutters for corrugated products under its ‘Chroma’ brand.
The initial agreement is for a 49% stake, and K&B has the option to further increase its shareholding in future.
Acquisition of the shares is subject to approval from the Italian authorities with the deal expected to complete in September.
Celmacch general manager Luca Celotti commented: “Celmacch has been looking for a partner for long-term cooperation and has found one in Koenig & Bauer.
“Our existing product portfolio ideally positions it for further growth. Koenig & Bauer provides us with access to a worldwide sales and service network with more than 2,000 staff. This combination will enable us to establish a more international and therefore scalable market presence. As the founding family, we want to actively shape this path together with our new partner and further increase the production capacities at the Desenzano del Garda site.”
The firm will become Koenig & Bauer Celmacch.
K&B said the firm’s products were complementary to its own CorruCut and CorruFlex presses, and it planned to unite all the different models under the Chroma product name.
“This will make Koenig & Bauer Celmacch the only supplier with presses to cover all price and performance classes,” K&B stated.
The manufacturer also described corrugated board as “an exemplary circular product with an average recycling quota of 80%”.
CEO Dr Andreas Pleßke said: “Corrugated board aligns with the increasing sustainability demands of the packaging industry, not least in the context of the European Green Deal, and is therefore also an expression of our ‘Exceeding Print’ strategy.”
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
K&B acquired Italian flexible packaging press specialist Flexotecnica in 2013. It subsequently bought Spanish die-cutter manufacturer Iberica and a majority stake in Turkish folder-gluer firm Duran.
