Alfred Rothlaender, who headed up €135m-turnover (£113m) Claudius Peters when it was acquired by Langley in 2001, has been named as the new head of the Offenbach-based sheetfed operation.

"Alfred knows exactly how we work when taking on a new business," said Langley Holdings chairman and chief executive Tony Langley.

"He is a vastly experienced managing director, who I know can be relied on during the transition between the former institutional management style of Manroland and the leaner, more flexible way that our companies do things."

After bedding in Claudius Peters, which specialises in the manufacture of heavy equipment for the cement, gypsum and steel industries, as well as aerospace components, Rothlaender then spent three years running the €190m-turnover uninterruptable power specialist Piller Group, another Langley acquisition, from 2005 to 2008. The 66-year-old German national subsequently retired from the group in 2010.

According to the company, prior to his short-lived retirement, Rothlaender expressed that he was "ready to come back" should the group acquire any more companies in Germany.