Buhler Group acquired a strategic stake in the Australia-based company Micronisers Australasia Pty. Ltd. effective April 20, 2011. Buhler therefore strengthens the existing strategic collaboration with Micronisers Australasia Pty. Ltd. in view of promising prospects in its Nanotechnology Business Unit. Buhler acquired a strategic stake of 15 percent of the shares of Micronisers Austral-asia Pty. Ltd. in order to foster and further strengthen the existing strategic collaboration.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Along with the transaction, Buhler now also holds options to further increase its stake in Micronisers Australasia Pty. Ltd. in the future. Buhler’s Dr. Frank Tabellion, managing director of Buhler PARTEC GmbH in Saarbrucken, Germany, as part of Buhler’s Business Unit Nanotechnology was appointed member of the Board of Directors of Micronisers Australasia Pty. Ltd.

Micronisers Australasia Pty. Ltd. will invest the fresh capital in the growth of its operations in the market and in the extension of its technology platform and plant. Buhler therefore extends its technology platform in the field of nanotechnology for the production of competitive nanomaterials. At the same time Buhler also secures the supply chain for important raw materials for its Business Unit Nanotechnology.

Micronisers Australasia Pty. Ltd. gains with the transaction a stronger position as distributor of Buhler’s product Oxylink in the Southeast Asia rim. The investment directly goes to the benefit of the operative business of Buhler with Oxylink. Buhler’s Oxylink is a formulated performance addi-tive based on nanotechnology for waterborne coating systems such as acrylic, alkyde and PU dispersions.