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Private equity firm MidOcean Partners has acquired Europackaging Group, a Birmingham-based manufacturer and distributor of packaging products, primarily to the retail sector. 

MidOcean partner Graham Thomas said: “We see enormous opportunity in extending the presence into all goods not for resale, using the impressive platform and network of the existing business.”

Attila Balogh, who ran Tchibo and was a Hero Group board member, will become chief executive. Balogh said: “We look forward to aggressively building the business with the existing management team, continuing growth not only in the UK, but also through geographic expansion.” 

Bill Ronald, the former UK managing director of Mars Confectionery and chief executive of Uniq plc, has joined Europackaging as chairman. Christoph Sander, previously of Bunzl, will join Europackaging’s board as a MidOcean appointee.

Lloyds TSB, led by Neale Broadhead and Keith Grehan, provided debt. Broadhead said: “Lloyds TSB is extremely pleased to have supported MidOcean in this exciting transaction.”

Europa Partners was corporate finance adviser to the vendor. Its team was led by Nicholas Mockett, who specialises in packaging, paper and printing M&A. Having known and advised the owners and management for several years, Mockett believed MidOcean was the right partner to continue Europackaging’s strong growth record.

“In more than a decade of packaging sector M&A I have never seen a facility of the scale and sophistication of its Birmingham site,” he said. “It is the only packaging company I know with the business model to replicate the meteoric rise of the print management industry.”

Eversheds was legal adviser to the management team. Linklaters, led by Carlton Evans, provided legal advice to MidOcean.

MidOcean runs offices in New York and London. It focuses on mid-market deals across Europe and the US in the consumer, leisure, media and communications sectors. It also acts for clients in the industrial, business and financial services industries.

Europackaging supplies clients such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Carrefour, Somerfield, Greggs and Ikea. The group has a turnover of more than £200 million and employs some 1,500 people. It runs manufacturing sites in the UK, Malaysia, Turkey and the US.

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