Deals

RPC Group Acquires Helioplast D.O.O

Posted: 8th January 2014 08:55
Summary of the acquisition

RPC Group PLC ("RPC" or the "Group"), Europe's leading supplier of rigid plastic packaging, has acquired Helioplast d.o.o. ("Helioplast" or the "Company") from management (the "Acquisition").
Based in Bosnia and Herzegovina and generating circa £7m of annual sales, Helioplast is a leading supplier of injection moulded rigid plastic packaging within consumer food segments. From newly constructed manufacturing facilities in Gračanica, Helioplast offers a wide range of designs differentiated by the Company's expertise across in-mould label decoration technology and supported by an in-house tool shop and a comprehensive tooling library. Having supplied customers in Bosnia and neighbouring Croatia for many years, the Company has also more recently made in-roads into additional export markets in the Balkan region as well as the wider south eastern European region. The Company employs approximately 80 employees.

Suad Helić, Managing Director of Helioplast and one of the selling shareholders, will continue to lead the Helioplast business with support from the RPC Superfos cluster.
RPC has funded the Acquisition from existing debt facilities.
 
Rationale for the transaction

Helioplast is a good strategic fit with RPC Superfos satisfying the Group's core acquisition criteria offering the following benefits:

  • Extending the geographic reach of the Superfos cluster into the Balkan region whilst providing a modern, high quality manufacturing base to support further sales growth into the south eastern European region.
  • Providing a manufacturing platform with strong management to enable the introduction of the Superfos industrial product range into the region whilst extending Helioplast's food product range.
  • Purchasing and best practice synergies commensurate with the size of Helioplast are expected to be realised within the first full year of ownership.
Deal value and financial effects of the transaction

For the year ended 31 December 2012, the latest period for which audited accounts are available, Helioplast generated an operating profit before the deduction of depreciation and amortisation ("EBITDA") of circa £1.4m. The total deal value represents a multiple of circa 6x 2012 EBITDA  which will be satisfied by a combination of up-front consideration and a series of deferred payments over the next three years.
The Acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for the Group in the next financial year ending 31 March 2015.
 
Pim Vervaat, Chief Executive of RPC, commented:

"I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Helioplast which represents a further step in realising the focused growth strategy of 'Vision 2020'.  Helioplast occupies a leading position in its home markets and is a strong complementary fit with the Superfos cluster. With the support of Superfos, the Helioplast team has an exciting opportunity to further grow its business across a number of key export markets."

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