Essentra to buy packaging unit of Clondalkin Group for $455m

Essentra, a supplier of speciality plastic and packaging components such as adhesives, said it would acquire the specialist packaging division of Clondalkin Group for $455 million (€365 million) from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, marking its entry into the North American personal healthcare market.

Essentra shares rose more than 3 per cent, making them the top gainer on the FTSE-250 Index on Wednesday morning.

Warburg Pincus bought control of Dublin-based Clondalkin Group in 2004.

"What this business does for us, it gets us in the North American health personal care market where we had no presence, it strengthens us in Europe certainly in the high-end personal care market where we had no presence in the packaging space, and ramps up our pharma offering in Europe," chief executive Colin Day said.

Essentra said the acquisition would be free of cash, debt and debt-equivalent items and tax assets and was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015.

The company said it expected cost synergies of at least $16 million from 2016.

Essentra said it would place 23.66 million shares, or nearly 10 per cent of its share capital, via a book-building process to raise £160 million to partly fund the deal.

It would be Essentra’s 13th acquisition since Day took over as CEO in 2011, and the third this year.

Clondalkin’s specialist packaging division generated revenue of $428.9 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $55.5 million in 2013, Essentra said.

Reuters