Flexible packaging

Saica acquires the Romagna-based Centroplast

0
1902

The Spanish group Saica is now active on the Italian market thanks to the acquisition of the Italian Centroplast, i.e. a company from Meldola (Forlì-Cesena, Italy), which since 1968 has been active in the production of flexible packaging, employs 235 people, registered a turnover of 67 million Euros in 2015 and has set itself the objective of reaching 75 million in 2016. Centroplast had been acquired at the beginning of 2008 by Athena Private Equity sa (i.e. a Luxemburg fund owned by Mediobanca and other institutional investors) and Imi Fondi Chiusi sgr (through the Centro Impresa fund). The company capital was owned by the two funds with a share of 45.6% each, acquired through Riviera srl, and by five Centroplast managers with a share of 8.8%.

Centroplast Holding, i.e. a holding company controlled by the Sagradini family, sold the share. The operation was at the time based on the 2007 turnover of the company of 40 million Euros. And the company has now been sold to the Spanish group.

As Saica President Ramón Alejandro puts it, «this operation allows us to act as a much stronger player on the market of flexible packaging, together with a first-level player. Considering the potential development of the sector, in particular in Italy, this is a long-term investment». The acquisition was carried out with the financial intermediation of Sabadell Corporate Finance and Scounting, while the legal assistance was provided by the law firm Pavia and Ansaldo.

The Saica group is based in Zaragoza. It is active at a European level in the production of recycled paper for corrugated cardboard and registers an annual production of 2.5 million tons of paper. With over 8 thousand employees, the Spanish multinational company is present in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Turkey. It is active in four productive industries: production of recycled paper for corrugated cardboard, recovery of recyclable materials, corrugated cardboard packaging and flexible packaging. In 2015 it registered a group turnover of 2.78 billion Euros.