Complex sentence: In 1994, Voith and the Swiss company, Sulzer, merged their technical paper production activities and in 1999 Voith acquired the technical paper-making operations of the British company, Scapa-thereby became the leader in machine clothing technologies.
Split into simpler sentences: In 1994, Voith and the Swiss company, Sulzer, merged their technical paper production activities. And in 1999, Voith acquired the technical paper-making operations of the British company, Scapa-thereby became the leader in machine clothing technologies.