Aug 27 2010 --- The Buhler Technology Group has acquired a stake in the Italian company Petroncini Impianti S.p.A. With this technology-driven partnership, Buhler is strengthening its position in the medium and top coffee market segments and thus offering the coffee processing industry new, targeted solutions for producing roasted and ground coffee.

With Buhler’s stake in Petroncini, the two companies are focusing their joint research and development resources on the development of novel, environmentally friendly coffee roasting systems and are thus contributing to sustainable coffee processing. Customers thereby profit from innovative and integral solutions for the industrial production of roasted and ground coffee. In this effort, Buhler will act as a project management partner along the entire process chain from handling, cleaning, and storage of the green coffee to roasting, blending, and grinding of the roasted coffee and packaging of the finished ground coffee. In addition, Buhler now is the exclusive global partner for the sale of Petroncini products for industrial coffee processing. Dr. Stefan Schenker has been appointed as the new head of the Coffee market segment. Stefan Schenker has a long and excellent track record from a large coffee corporation and will thus strengthen the specialist and leadership competence of this Coffee unit.

Petroncini Impianti S.p.A. celebrated its 90th anniversary last year. The headquarters of the company are located in S. Agostino near Bologna (Italy). Petroncini specializes in the industrial-scale manufacture of drum roasting systems for the coffee industry and has to date installed over 2000 coffee roasters across the globe.

The two companies have agreed not to disclose the value or the share of the stake.