Coesia agrees to sell Laetus to Danaher; reports

Italy's Coesia group has agreed to sell coding specialist Laetus GmbH to Danaher, according to local press reports.

The transfer of ownership - which could happen before the end of the year - will allow Coesia to focus on its core activities in processing and packaging equipment and automation and has been reported in two separate articles in the Corriere di Bologna and La Repubblica newspapers.

SecuringIndustry.com was unable to get confirmation of the deal from either Coesia or Danaher by the time this article was published.

Frankfurt-based Laetus specialises in machinery used for pack handling, code reading, quality control, as well as fill inspection systems, serving the pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetics and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries. It employs around 190 staff.

Washington-based Danaher, which already owns coding and marking company Videojet -  is one of the leading companies in the sector along with the likes of Domino, Dover (Markem-Imaje), Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, ID Technology and Matthews Marking Systems.

The US group has been on an acquisitive streak of late as it builds its presence in process-based industries such as pharma, and has only just completed the $13.6bn acquisition of filtration specialist Pall Corp.