London-listed Bunzl buys Irish packaging firm Abco Kovex

Irish flexible-packaging distributor Abco Kovex has been acquired by London-listed Bunzl for an undisclosed sum.

Bunzl, which previously acquired Irish Merchants in 2007, announced the deal as it reported first-half pretax profits of £245.4 million (€273.4 million) on revenues of £4.85 billion.

Abco Kovex is based in Dublin and is a distributor of flexible packaging, but with operations also in Britain, and is engaged principally in the sale of items such as stretchfilm, polythene and paper packaging and pallet wrap to a users in the food, construction, packaging, food service and pharmaceutical sectors.

The company, headquartered in Swords, emerged as the result of a merger between Abco Packaging and Kovex Plastics in the mid-1990s.

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Acquisition

Revenue in 2019 was €23 million. Completion of the acquisition is subject to clearance of the transaction by the Irish competition authority.

The distribution and outsourcing giant said the deal would enhance its product offering and expand its customer base in Ireland and Britain while also presenting some cross-selling opportunities.

The acquisition is one of two deals announced by the group, which is also purchasing US-safety business MCR.

Bunzl was incorporated in 1940 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1957. But its origins date back to 1854 when Moritz Bunzl opened a small haberdashery business in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The company’s share price was up 2.5 per cent in midday trading in London on Monday.