Joa becomes majority shareholder in BIKOMA AG

Gene F. Kiela II, President of Curt G. Joa, Inc. along with Bernd Goebel, Board of Management of BIKOMA AG announced that Curt G. Joa, Inc. will become the majority shareholder in BIKOMA effective April 8, 2011. As a result, Bernd Goebel has increased his existing shareholder interest in BIKOMA and these two parties are now the owners of BIKOMA. It is foreseen that this alliance will further strengthen the JOA umbrella by expanding their range of hygienic and specialty machine offerings while enhancing the presence of both companies in the global market.

Mr. Kiela announced that the JOA family, board and management team are very pleased to join with BIKOMA, a company with a history that also goes back to the 1930’s, just like Curt G. Joa, Inc., which was founded by Mr. Kiela’s grandfather, Curt Joa, in 1932. "We are both companies that are known for innovation, reliability, and quality in the industry. Mr. Joa was originally from the Wurzburg area in Germany and as a young engineer he immigrated to the United States in the 1920’s. The purchase of BIKOMA, in a sense, takes JOA back to the European region in a significant way. We see that over the long term our customers will benefit from our alliance because our synergies will help us create new opportunities for all of our customers. A strategic focus for our combined company is to continue to nurture and develop the independent strengths of each of the JOA and BIKOMA brands."

BIKOMA will offer its existing program of lines for the hygienic industry plus its new program developed by the new alliance from its Mayen headquarters under the continued leadership of Bernd Goebel. Mr. Goebel is very well recognized in the industry and started working at BIKOMA in the late-1970' s. It has been his passion to lead BIKOMA since the mid-1990’s.