Voestalpine acquires controlling stake in Italian ITALFIL SpA

The company is expanding its product portfolio with premium welding wire, as well as its position in the welding technology market

Voestalpine Böhler Welding, a leading global welding technology company, has acquired a controlling stake in premium welding wire manufacturer ITALFIL SpA. This is stated in the company’s press release.

The Italian plant currently employs 110 people and had an annual turnover of €43 million in 2023. Through the acquisition, voestalpine is expanding its product portfolio, especially in the semi-automated and automated high-end technology sector.

This acquisition brings us a significant step closer to our strategic goal of providing our customers with holistic solutions in the field of welding technology. By supplying ITALFIL S.p.A. with high-quality wire rod from our steel production in the future, we are also enhancing our value chain,» comments Franz Kainersdorfer, Member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and Head of the Metal Engineering Division.

Voestalpine AG plans to sell the Buderus Edelstahl plant, which is part of the German Voestalpine High Performance Metals division, instead of the previously planned strategic re-profiling of the enterprise. The company justifies this step by the negative economic conditions for industrial companies in Germany.

As GMK Center previously reported, voestalpine produced the world’s first high-quality green wire rod from hydrogen-reduced iron and scrap at its Donavik plant. The hydrogen-reduced pure iron was produced at the Hyfor pilot plant, and the landmark smelting was carried out at the Technikum Metallurgie research center, a unique small but fully-fledged metallurgical plant of the group.