Austrian acquisition boosts Sun European packaging portfolio

Sun European Partners has continued its push to become a major packaging player in Europe after acquiring an Austrian flexible packing firm from Mondi.

The private equity outfit announced last week that one of its affiliates had reached agreement to takeover Unterland Flexible Packaging GmbH.

Unterland, based in Langkampfen, in the Tyrol region, specialises in film-based packaging for both industrial and consumer applications - with Sun hailing the firm “as one of Europe’s most technologically advanced sector specialists”.

The films serve a variety of end markets including food and transportation packaging, as well as the pharmaceutical sector and silaging.

The deal to buy the company, which was acquired by Mondi in 2007, is subject to regulatory approval.

Philippe Neuschaefer, vice president of Sun European Partners, said: “Unterland is a great fit with our existing pan-European flexible packaging platform and we are delighted by the prospect of driving further growth in the business.”

Unterland chief executive Peter Tilich said the move was an important milestone in the company’s evolution. “Unterland’s strategic focus is increasingly centred on higher value-added segments and we will continue to invest in technological capabilities to develop innovative products in this area,” he added.

Packaging ambition

The transaction is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Sun European, which has signaled a strong intent to grow its packaging portfolio in Europe.

“This is our fifteenth packaging transaction in the past five years and we are excited to continue building on our extensive experience in this sector,” added Neuschaefer.

In June, it announced it was would merge its existing packaging companies to create two European hubs, one to cover its flexible packaging businesses and another to envelop its rigid packaging businesses.

The flexible packaging group has an annual l turnover of approximately €311m, with the division consisting of the Britton Group, Reuther Verpackung and Veriplast Solutions,

Based in the UK, the group has operations across four European countries; UK, France, Germany and Poland.

The rigid division, known as PACCOR, will be created from the merger of two existing affiliates of Sun European Partners: German-based PACCOR and the rigid packaging division of Veriplast, with annual turnover of approximately €370m.

Source: Sun European Partners