An affiliate of Sun European Partners, a leading private investment advisory firm, has announced the start of exclusive negotiations with Paris-based PAI Partners to divest its beauty and personal care (BPC) packaging company Albéa.
The potential transaction is valued at $1.5 billion according to media sources, and is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
With customers in 60 countries Albéa is one of the world's leading packaging companies, providing a wide range of solutions for the make-up, fragrance, skincare, personal and oral care markets. The company employees some 15,000 people at its 38 facilities across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Albéa — formerly known as Alcan Packaging Beauty — was acquired by Sun in July 2010. Sun changed the name of the company to Albéa in November of that same year.
Under Sun's ownership, the company flourished, with significant capital expenditure leading to profitability improvement by over 80 percent, along with a 600-basis point lift in margins.
Pursuing a strategy of growth through acquisitions, Albéa purchased, among others, Australian company Betts Group Ltd. in 2010, U.S.-based Eyelematic in 2011, Tex China in 2012 and the Rexam personal care division in the United Kingdom in January 2013.
This is not Sun's first attempt to dispose of Albéa. At the end of 2016, Sun put the packaging company up for sale, but took it back off the market when it failed to see its price expectation met.
Among the buyout groups interested at that time were Bain, Advent, PAI, Onex, Partners Group and British packaging group RPC. This time around, final bids were received from a consortium comprising Bain Capital, PAI and RPC. PAI Partners reportedly outbid other parties.
The company, said CEO François Luscan, is “excited for this new chapter in Albéa's 60-year history.”
“We are looking forward to working with our new shareholder as we consolidate our position as the leading provider of solutions to the world's most prestigious and most dynamic brands, building from our unique combination of customer-focus, operating excellence, large range of products and services, global reach, technical know-how, social responsibility and passion,” he commented.