Global food equipment and energy technologies supplierGEA Group Aktiengesellschaft, Bochum, Germany, said it expects by mid 2011 to purchaseConvenience Food Systems(CFS) another global company based in Bakel, The Netherlands.

GEA described CFS as one of the world's "most multi-faceted suppliers" of secondary food processing and packaging machinery in the meat, seafood and cheese sectors. CFS has approximately 2,000 employees worldwide with estimated 2010 sales of EUR 400 M.

"This acquisition follows our declared strategy to expand the food process technology activities of GEA Group horizontally," said Jürg Oleas, GEA Group CEO. "We are taking our portfolio another big step forward towards the less cyclical food industry. In doing so, we can leverage the brand value of GEA by offering our customers ever more solutions along their entire process chain from one single source.”

Brian McCluskie is CFS' chief executive officer.

"The market segment of animal proteins is one of the fastest growing within the entire food industry. As part of the GEA Group we will have the chance to develop new customers and find access to new markets. GEA offers ideal growth conditions for an innovative and quality focused company such as CFS."

GEA Group AG divisions includeGEA Process Engineering, which specializes in the design and development of process solutions for the dairy, brewery, food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries; andGEA Refrigeration Technologies, an international market leader for industrial refrigeration systems. GEA Refrigeration companies include freezer supplierGEA Aerofreeze Inc., Richmond, B.C., Canada; freezer supplierGEA Intec LLC, Durham, N.C., andGEA FES Inc., a York, Pa., supplier of industrial refrigeration equipment.

CFS ownsCFS North America, a Frisco, Texas, supplier of preparation, marination, processing, slicing and packaging equipment for meat, poultry, fish, seafood and cheese-based products.