Italy’s Mario Frigerio SpA announced that it has acquired the intellectual property rights (IP rights), as well as the inventory, of Germany’s ERNST KOCH GmbH & Co., KG, a storied equipment manufacturer.

A press release said that Mario Frigerio has established a new company—KOCH Machinery and Technology GmbH (KOCH)—in Germany. Lucia Frigerio, executive vice president of Mario Frigerio, will also serve as managing director, along with Jochen Koch. Lucia Frigerio said that the deal enables the resulting organization to offer “the world’s best European technology,” and that it will be able to quickly respond to service needs around the world, and will stock original spare parts.

“With this acquisition, the MFL GROUP will strengthen its worldwide presence, and complete its portfolio of products in the Wire and Rope Division with reinforcement steel wire lines as well as cold heading wire lines,” Frigerio said in the release. It noted that KOCH will also service the complete program of the former entity. That includes spare parts supply, maintenance programs, electrical revamping and mechanical retrofitting.

Founded in 1921, Ernst Koch GmbH supplied its first wire machine in the 1930s, built by master mechanic Ernst Koch. In the 1950s, his sons, Albert and Heinrich, began supplying wet drawing machines, take-up frames for galvanizing lines, and wire straightening and cutting machines. In 1969, it partnered with WAFIOS AG to provide specialized drawing machines and cold-rolling technology. The company expanded its product range over the years, to where it had some 130 employees, customers in more than 60 countries, with 80% of its products are now being exported.