Austria's acquisitive Schur Flexibles Group has continued on its aggressive growth path, this time buying up high-barrier food and pharma packaging specialist Danapack Flexibles A/S from Arla Foods.
Less than two months since it acquired Slovakian flexibles producer Moneta-S, Schur has agreed to this deal which should be completed by the start of July subject to competition authority approvals. Terms were not disclosed. This acquisition takes to 12 the number of companies in the Austrian group, it said.
Founded in 1955 by the Danish Dairy Board, Danapack Flexibles has built a strong niche assortment of high quality flexible packaging, especially for the pharmaceutical market. Danapack, based in Slagelse, Denmark, generates annual revenue of around 53 million euros ($72.6 million) and employs 190.
Two-year-old Schur Flexibles, formed by German private equity firm Capiton and packaging specialist Jakob Mosser, has grown through a “buy and build” strategy. It now has subsidiaries in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Greece and Slovakia.
The Austrian buyer calls its latest takeover a perfect fit. Danapack complements Schur's existing portfolio which includes the production of high-barrier packaging for the food, healthcare and tobacco industries.
“Danapack's product technology centre combines skills within research, development and graphic design and features a fully equipped laboratory as well as a pilot plant. This will enable us to meet customer demands and trends very quickly,” commented Schur's CEO Jakob Mosser.
Dairy cooperative Arla sold off Danapack in line with its disposal policy for non-core businesses. Schur Flexibles now has customers in 60 countries and employs 1,300
As group operations continue to grow, Schur Flexibles has also established a central polymers procurement subsidiary, Polymer Sourcing (PS) early this year. It is reported to have secured supply agreements with leading polymer producers. Former Kobusch-Sengewald executive Wolfgang Klare will take over as PS managing director in July.
