By Ashley Karen
With effect from 7 December 2023, PERI SE achieved a majority stake in KERN Tunneltechnik SA, based in Lugano, Switzerland.
The KERN Group presently has about 80 employees at three locations, and it is a leading provider of secondary lining solutions for tunneling projects – the production of in-situ concrete inner shells for the construction of tunnels employing the mining method.
KERN Group’s primary markets are the DACH region, the UK, and the USA. In addition to the ‘special machines’ construction, KERN delivers complete logistics solutions and engineering services for more intricate construction projects with a high degree of engineering expertise.
The firm will continue to perform as an independent unit within the PERI Group under its current management, brand, and company name. All KERN employees will be taken over, and all company locations will be maintained.
PERI has been one of the technical leader units for formwork solutions in the standard and special tunnel projects field for many years. Both firms share the rationalizing customers’ construction processes’ goal and, thus, making construction safer and more economical.
“The merger with PERI opens up new perspectives for both companies and allows us to be stronger on the market in the future – worldwide. This means that both we and PERI can place our service to customers on an even broader basis and fulfill further requirements,” claims Reiner Kern, CEO of KERN Tunneltechnik SA.
Christian Schwörer, PERI CEO, expressed: “The acquisition of KERN Tunneltechnik is an important step in broadening our engineering expertise in infrastructure construction.”
He also stated: “This brings together two strong partners who complement each other perfectly. With this merger, we are creating an international solution provider in tunneling technology for our customers.”
In the takeover course by PERI, the WALO Group is selling its shares in the KERN Group. As a strategic investor, the firm has intensively backed and accompanied KERN’s hit story since 2017. KERN and WALO will continue their successful cooperation in the field of additional and new developments of construction and logistics machines with a strategic partnership in the future.
