Zeus makes third acquisition in six months with £5.5m deal for VaioPak

Irish-owned packaging company Zeus has acquired British rival VaioPak in a deal valued at £5.5 million (€6.4 million).

The acquisition is Zeus’s third since December with the company having spent a combined €15 million as it looks to ramp up growth.

Made up of ten sister companies, Essex-based VaioPak provides a range of packaging products to clients that includes Jo Malone, Starbucks, Red Bull, Tesco and Audi. It has an annual turnover in excess of £5 million (€5.8 million).

Zeus said the deal would strengthen its foothold in Britain while also boosting company growth by an estimated 15 per cent.

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Established by Brian O’Sullivan in 1998, Zeus employs 185 people in the Republic, and 350 in total across 12 countries worldwide. The group’s turnover rose to €150 million from €135 million in 2018 with the company growing at a rate of between 7 to 10 per cent per annum over the last five years.

The company forecasts that revenues will reach €175 million this year with a target of €200 million in 2020.

Zeus acquired Dublin-based Aldar Tissues last December and Naas-headquartered Essential Supplies two months later as part of an acquisition-led growth strategy.

“Since I founded the company in 1998, a key part of Zeus’s strategic global growth has been identifying successful companies whose innovation and ambition will match and drive our own. VaioPak is a key player in the UK, with high-value and high-profile clients. The VaioPak team has also built a powerful e-commerce platform with an embedded client base that Zeus can leverage for increased cut-through into both the UK and the US,” said Mr O’Sullivan.