Funds advised by Motion have acquired Holweg Weber, world leader in solutions dedicated to the manufacturing of paper packaging
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 and Arkéa Capital (Strasbourg office) in the deal.
Holweg Weber is 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 a historical global leadership in several dynamic sub-markets.
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 in 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 has 180 employees.
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’s market leadership by targeting strong growth opportunities in new geographical markets, continuing its emphasis on innovation and accelerating the service activity to reinforce its premium positioning. In particular, Holweg Weber will further expand its product range to seize new market opportunities 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 a state-of-the-art machine producer and maintenance provider, operating in 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 that is 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. Jean-Lin Bergé, Director at Arkea Capital Strasbourg office stated: “I would like to thank Holweg-Weber Management and Motion Equity Partners team for their trust. Arkéa Capital is delighted to assist them in the implementation of the planned development plan.”
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 a cohesive 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 in 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.”