Diemme Filtration, the long-standing manufacturer and supplier of global filter presses to the mining industry located in Lugo, Italy, has been acquired from the controlling Melandri family by Bilfinger Berger SE, a leading German multinational company in the building and industry services sectors. Bilfinger Berger stated that is expanding its range of services in filter technology, and that the Diemme assets complement its current portfolio in water and waste treatment and allow it to become “a technological leader in the supply of industrial filter presses.” Diemme Filtration has an annual output volume of around €40 million and has been highly profitable in recent years.

The experienced management team at Diemme will remain with the company. “With the new joint-venture, we are adding additional client groups, new markets, and a high level of technological competence to our existing business in environmental and water technology”, explained Klaus Raps, the responsible Member of the Executive Board at Bilfinger Berger SE. “In Bilfinger Berger we have been able to attract a strong financial international partner that will enable the filter division to grow and achieve its full potential in the global market” said Rino Melandri, current reference shareholder of Diemme SpA.

Diemme Filtration is active in 42 countries, in Europe as well as India, Russia and South America, and primarily serves industrial clients, especially in the mining sector. Bilfinger Berger Facility Services has to date predominantly served public sector clients in the filter sector through the Passavant-Geiger group, specialised in environmental technologies and water treatment. The new owner believes that Diemme Filtration will complement and strengthen the Passavant-Geiger group, part of the business unit Facility Services of Bilfinger Berger.

The Bilfinger Berger statement added: “Stricter environmental requirements and enhanced ecological awareness increase the demands placed on the treatment of industrial waste, especially in the mining sector. At the same time, new areas of application are also arising, in particular in raw material extraction and refining for the chemical and mining industry.”