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A manufacturer of mattress foam employing thousands across Europe from its Manchester base completed its expansion into Italy with a €6.1m acquisition.

Middleton-based The Vita Group has completed the acquisition of IMPE, a company owned by Naples-based furniture giant Nattuzi, which was first announced in January.

The Naples site will be known as Vita Italy, and manufacture value added and differentiated polyurethane foam for the Italian furniture and bedding industry, as well as expanding the group’s trade links with the Americas and North Africa.

The site, which has production capabilities of 20k tonnes per annum, will enable Vita to release current production in Hungary and Romania to concentrate on further expansion in Eastern Europe and the Balkans region.

Vita Group chief executive Ian Robb said: "We’re delighted to have completed this acquisition and to present Vita Italy to the world.

"Our investment and training programme is underway and we look forward to working closely with our new colleagues to take the Naples site from strength to strength, delivering innovative solutions to both new and existing customers in Italy and beyond."

The capacity increases enable further investments into thriving new sectors, such as bedding (Bed in a Box) technology and production equipment in United Kingdom, France, Romania, and Germany.

In April 2020, the Rochdale manufacturer, which employs 2,700 people across Europe, said it had helped make 25,000 mattresses for NHS Nightingale Hospitals.