Trelleborg, Sweden-The Trelleborg Group sold its printing blanket business to the German technology group Continental, to commemorate the final phase of a major transformation plan launched in December 2019. 

Trelleborg announced on November 11 that the business had sales of SEK 1.2 billion (EUR 120 million) last year, developing and manufacturing polymer-coated fabric printing blankets, and will merge it into ContiTech. 

The transaction has not yet disclosed financial details and is subject to approval by relevant authorities. It is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022.

According to Trelleborg, printing blankets can be used for all types of offset printing as well as flexographic and digital printing. The business also includes a line of carrier sleeves for packaging flexographic printing.

The company is said to be a "leader in the offset printing industry," with four brands: Vulcan, Rollin, Printec and Sava, using cold-set, heat-set and sheet-fed technologies.

The divestment marks Trelleborg's withdrawal from the printing blanket market. 

"The business is global, in a leading position, and has developed well under Trelleborg's management," said Peter Nielsen, Trelleborg's president and chief executive officer.

He added: “So it is comforting that the new owner is taking over who can develop it further.”

The divestment also concluded the December 2019 strategic review, which was tasked with evaluating various structural measures for multiple businesses. 

Nilsson said that since then, Trelleborg has divested companies with total sales of more than SEK 3.2 billion. 

Nilsson added: "We are now fully focused on continuing to develop the group and our well-performing and well-positioned business areas."

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