Former management at Hosokawa Bepex, Minneapolis, has bought the 28-year-old division from Osaka, Japan, parent Hosokawa Micron Corp. in conjunction with an outside investor. Newly named Bepex International LLC, the company manufactures thermal processing, agglomeration and size-reduction equipment.

“Our focus with the new Bepex will be on our expertise in process technology,” says Ralph Imholte, Bepex's president. “In addition to engineering and project management, our Minneapolis facility includes a world-class pilot plant capable of a variety of process development and optimization projects. We provide not only the machines and equipment, but the entire process solution, including a broad array of aftermarket services.”

Bepex serves industries such as foods, nutraceuticals, chemicals, minerals and polymers. The company is a single-source provider of integrated powder- and particle-processing systems for size reduction, agglomeration, compaction, drying, briquetting, thermal processing, blending and mixing.

Contact Bepex International at (612) 331-4370 or www.bepex.com.