News

Motion Equity Partners has acquired Holweg Weber, a provider of paper bag making machines. The sellers included Azulis Capital. No financial terms were disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE

Paris, May 30th 2018 –Motion Equity Partners, a French independent mid-cap private equity firm announced today the acquisition of Holweg Weber from Azulis Capital and co-investors. Holweg Weber is the leading global player specialized in the design, development and assembly of solutions dedicated to the manufacturing of paper bags. Management will reinvest alongside Motion in the deal, as well as Arkéa Capital.

Holweg Weber is the result of the consolidation of 2 historical players Holweg and H.G. Weber specialized in the design, development and assembly of solutions dedicated to the manufacturing of paper bags & paper sheets. With more than 100 years of business experience in paper bag making machinery, the Group has an historical global leadership in several dynamic sub-markets such as take away, bakery and non-food bags.

The Group oversees every step of the paper bag solutions value chain, from engineering through manufacturing and aftersales services. Holweg Weber provides its clients with a wide range of premium production lines (including flat and square bottom paper bag making machines) and maintenance services. Holweg Weber has a broad and diversified customer base, whose ultimate clients are positioned on resilient and dynamic industries.

The Group operates four entities including two main assembly sites in Molsheim (Alsace, France) and Kiel (Wisconsin, USA), and two subsidiaries in Spain and Germany. Headquartered in Molsheim, the Group is managed by Vincent Schalck in France and Mike Odom in the USA, and counts 180 employees. Its turnover reaches €50m in 2017 (more than 95% outside France).

After successfully leading the spin-off from DCM Group in 2012, Azulis and its co-investors have allowed Holweg Weber to position itself successfully as a leading global player of the paper bag machinery market. Under Azulis’s ownership,the Group has widened its offer, through two acquisitions in Germany and Spain. Holweg Weber‘s next development phase will involve strengthening the Group leadership by further tapping strong growth opportunities in new geographical markets, pursue the emphasis on innovation efforts and accelerate the service activity to reinforce its premium positioning. In particular, Holweg Weber will further expand its product range to seize new market dynamics and enlarge activity beyond current market, both organically and via acquisition.

“Holweg Weber is a longstanding player that has built leading positions thanks to its strong reputation in the packaging industry. The Group is state-of-the-art machine producer and maintenance provider, operating on structurally growing niche markets, with significant remaining upsides and synergies. We are convinced that Holweg Weber is ideally positioned to benefit from the important growth prospects arising from the worldwide environmental awareness accelerating the shift from plastic to paper bags and long term structural growth of consumption in emerging countries.” said Cédric Rays, Partner at Motion Equity Partners.

Vincent Schalck & Mike Odom, CEO of Holweg Weber, stated: “Motion Equity Partners quickly turned out to be the ideal partner to support Holweg Weber’s growth, thanks to its external growth expertise. Both our team and Motion’s team succeeded in creating an emulating working atmosphere, which is a prerequisite for the success of the project. We thank Azulis, Unigrains and BNPP for their precious help in the Group restructuring after the spin-off from DCM.“

Pierre Jourdain, Managing Partner at Azulis Capital, on the exit: “Holweg Weber’s development perfectly illustrates the ability of a nimble SME managed by a dynamic team, to reach a global leading position on technical niche markets. We are proud of having enabled Holweg Weber’s teams to achieve their independence and having supported them in targeted acquisitions, giving them access to new technologies and strengthening their global leadership. With Motion’s support, we are convinced that the Group is well on track to pursue its growth on a structurally growing market. “

About Motion Equity Partners
Motion Equity Partners is an independent mid-cap private equity firm based in France. 100% owned by its Management team, Motion has an experienced team of investment professionals based in Paris. Motion is a strong backer for management teams who are ambitious for growth, change and international development.

Specialised in supporting Management teams aiming to accelerate their company’s growth, Motion Equity Partners particularly excels in supporting portfolio companies in their international development, establishing external growth strategies, setting up operational improvement plans or supporting the transition from family businesses. Motion targets control positions in companies of up to € 250 million in Enterprise Value.

Additional information available at: www.motionequitypartners.com

About Azulis Capital
Azulis Capital is an historical private equity player for SMEs, with 110 “platforms” transactions realized these past 20 years. The team has expertise in four industries; agribusiness, healthcare, reail, consumer goods and B2B services. It favors external growth developments, with more than 150 build up operations achieved.

Azulis Capital is an independent management company approved by the French Financial Markets Authority (l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers – AMF), 100% owned by its Partners.

Additional information available at: www.azuliscapital.fr