THE International Cooling Group (ICG), which includes Searle, Dawmec and Raffel, has been acquired by GEA.
The companies will become part of GEA¹s refrigeration division which also includes such international names as Grasso, Kuba and Goedhart.

The transaction will take effect after approval from the German Federal Cartel Office.

'ICG represents an excellent, profitable, technological and geographical extension of our refrigeration product range,' said Niels Graugaard, member of the executive board of GEA Group.

He added 'The acquisition will strengthen the competitiveness and the position of GEA's Refrigeration division in Europe and provides further significant synergy effects.'

ICG, owner of Searle (based in Fareham) is GEA's seventh acquisition this year, totalling over 160m Euro.

GEA Refrigeration employs approximately 3,300 people in more than 45 companies worldwide.

In 2007, consolidated sales were 5.2bn Euro. ICG generated sales of approximately 70m Euro last year with 500 employees.