London , December 7, 2006 - MidOcean Partners, a middle market private equity firm with offices in New York and London announced today the acquisition of various companies comprising the Europackaging Group (“Europackaging” or “The Group”), a customer focused, leading international manufacturer, distributor and consolidator of packaging products and other key goods not for resale. As part of the transaction the current owners of Europackaging will retain a significant minority stake in the business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Europackaging supplies a large range of packaging products, mainly into the retail sector, and its prestigious customer base includes a number of leading retailers throughout Europe including Tesco, Sainsbury, ASDA, Carrefour, Somerfield, Greggs, and lkea. The Group also supplies the retail sector and wholesale, catering and other industries with a large variety of other Goods Not For Resale (“GNFR“). Headquartered in Birmingham, UK, the Group has a global presence with manufacturing sites in the UK, Malaysia, Turkey and the US. in addition to manufacturing, Europackaging procures over 2,000 other product categories from a wide variety of suppliers.
Following completion of the transaction, Bill Ronald, formerly UK Managing Director of Mars Confectionery and CEO of Uniq PLC will join Europackaging as Chairman, and Attila Balogh who previously ran the international businesses of Tchibo and was a Hero Group Executive Board member and CEO of the UK, North America and Central Europe, will become Chief Executive Officer. In addition, Christoph Sander will join the Board as a MidOcean appointee. Mr. Sander was previously Managing Director of Bunzl plc’s 1.5bn European and Australasian Outsourcing Services business, and was appointed a main Board Director of Bunzl pic in 2004, and Chief Executive designate in February 2005.
He left Bunzl in 2006 in order to pursue other interests.
Graham Thomas, partner of MidOcean said: “We are very familiar with the markets in which Europackaging operates through our investment in Bezier, the UK’s leading in-store marketing company. Under the stewardship of the current owners and an outstanding sales and management team, Europackaging has developed into a global “one-stop shop“ for supplying end fulfilling packaging end other goods not for resale for leading retailers. We see enormous opportunity in extending the presence into all goods not for resale, using the impressive platform and network of the existing business.”
Bill Ronald, the incoming Chairman of the Group said: “MidOcean’s investment is recognition of Europackaging’s achievements in building the business to date, and of the development potential ahead. With world class manufacturing, innovation and procurement capabilities, the Group is also a leader in addressing environmental concerns through re-use, recycling and production of fully degradable and bio-degradable bags.” Attila Balogh, the incoming CEO, added: “We look forward to aggressively building the business with the existing management team, continuing growth not only in the UK, but also through geographic expansion.”
Europackaging commented; “Partnering with MidOcean gives us an exciting opportunity to further expand our operations and consider acquisitions to bolster continued growth for the Group. With the ongoing support and commitment of existing management and staff who have been integral to our success, we aim to strengthen and expand our services to supply the diverse market arena that we have established over the last 20 years, and to continue to supply quality and innovative packaging solutions to our valued customers.”
Linklaters acted as legal adviser to MidOcean and DLA Piper acted as legal adviser to the Vendors. The Vendors financial advisors were Europa Partners Limited and PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance. Lloyds TSB is providing debt financing.
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About Europackaging
Europackaging is a leading edge manufacturer and consolidator of packaging products and GNFR and products for resale to a broad portfolio of major blue chip companies, supplying on a global scale. The Europackaging group has e turnover in excess of 200m and employs over 1500 people across 10 sites. Europackaging spearheads the global supply of innovative products in a highly demanding packaging arena from key facilities located in UK, Malaysia, Turkey, USA, China and India. For more information visit www.eurogackaging.co.uk.
About MidOcean Partners
MidOcean Partners is a premier New York-based alternative asset manager that specializes in middle market private equity and alternative credit investments. Since its inception in 2003, MidOcean Private Equity has managed over $4.5 billion of committed capital and has targeted investments in high-quality middle market companies in the consumer and business services sectors. MidOcean Credit Partners was launched in 2009 and manages approximately $8 billion across a series of alternative credit strategies, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and customized separately managed accounts as of November 30, 2018
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