MOSCOW (
MRC) Private equity firm Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) will acquire the film business of Finland-based plastics packaging group Huhtamaki Oyj for 141 million euros (USD176.2 million) in a management buyout, said the company in its press release.
DBAG will hold 17% in Huhtamaki Films and invest up to 12.5 million euros (USD15.6 million). The DBAG Fund VI and the company’s management will hold the remaining shares.
The film division, which is headquartered in Forchheim, Germany, saw net sales of more than 187 million euros (USD252.8 million) in 2013. In July, its Espoo, Finland-based parent company announced that it was looking to divest from the segment to focus more on food packaging.
DBAG was interested. The firm looks for well-positioned, mid-size companies and it sees Huhtamaki Films as a specialized enterprise that collaborates closely with customers to develop and produce plastics-based liners and films for hygiene and health products, the construction industry, and adhesive tapes and labels. Sales are pretty evenly divided among the three areas of application.
About 75% of Huhtamaki Films’ diverse product portfolio, which ranges from the outer layer of baby diapers to acoustic and thermal insulation to films for sealing sewage pipes, was developed to meet specific customer needs. The products are made with various degrees of siliconization, barrier properties to protect against light or fluid, and they can have tear-proof, biodegradable or antistatic qualities.
The films and liners are produced at four facilities that employ more than 600 people in Forchheim; Malvern, Pa.; Thailand and Brazil. The company has more than 1,000 staff in total.
Huhtamaki Films is the first company to be added to DBAG’s portfolio for the 2014-15 financial year. The management buyout offers a chance to expand the product offering, according to Peter Wahsner, executive vice president of Huhtamaki Films.
DBAG expects to complete two or three management buyouts and up to three expansion capital investments annually. Managed and advised assets currently add up to about 1.3 billion euros (USD1.6 billion). The Huhtamaki transaction, which is subject to regulatory clearance, is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
Huhtamaki
announced in July that it would buy India's Positive Packaging for 247 million euros to increase its access to Indian and Middle Eastern markets.
As MRC
wrote before, Huhtamaki, the Finnish-based consumer packaging specialist with worldwide operations, will build a moulded fibre egg packaging unit adjacent to its existing packaging facility in the greater Moscow area.
The new unit will concentrate on a narrow range of high-volume premium egg packaging, with complementary products sourced from other Huhtamaki units and technology licensees. This supply network enables the company to start sales and deliveries while the new unit is still under construction. The company already has a specialised fresh foods sales force in Russia.