Frank­furt am Main -Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG) is inves­t­ing in Carton­plast Group GmbH (Carton­plast), Europe’s leading opera­tor of a pool system for reusable plas­tic layer pads used in parti­cu­lar for trans­port­ing glass contai­ners in the beverage and food indus­tries. As part of a manage­ment buy-out (MBO), DBAG Fund VII, which is advi­sed by DBAG, will acquire the majo­rity of shares in Carton­plast from the finan­cial inves­tor Stir­ling Square Capi­tal Part­ners, based in London.

DBAG will investaround 26 million euros along­side the fund; in future, it will hold around 17 percent of the shares in Carton­plast. In addi­tion, the company’s manage­ment will also remain invol­ved. The closing of the purchase agree­ment is subject to the appr­oval of the anti­trust autho­ri­ties and is not expec­ted before Octo­ber 2019. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

DBAG Fund VII has been inves­t­ing in medium-sized compa­nies, prima­rily in German-spea­king count­ries, since Decem­ber 2016. Carton­plast is DBAG Fund VII’s eighth invest­ment in total and the third for which its top-up fund is also used. With the Carton­plast tran­sac­tion, appro­xi­m­ately 71 percent of the invest­ment commit­ments of the main fund and appro­xi­m­ately 59 percent of the capi­tal commit­ments of the top-up fund of DBAG Fund VII will be invested.

Carton­plast (www.cartonplast.com) was foun­ded in 1985. The company prima­rily rents reusable and recy­clable plas­tic liners for trans­port­ing glass bott­les, cans and other glass or PET contai­ners for food to the manu­fac­tu­r­ers of these contai­ners. Carton­plast has estab­lished a closed logi­stics loop within the value chain of its custo­mers, which includes not only rental but also coll­ec­tion, sort­ing and clea­ning of the layer pads. Compared to card­board layer pads, plas­tic layer pads are more hygie­nic, safer for trans­port and — due to their reusa­bi­lity — more cost-efficient.

In addi­tion to its head­quar­ters in Diet­zen­bach, Carton­plast has 16 other sites — abroad, espe­ci­ally in Western and Central Europe, Turkey, Russia, Brazil and South Africa. In 2018, the company gene­ra­ted sales of around 80 million euros; around three quar­ters of this was attri­bu­ta­ble to the plas­tic layer pad rental business.

With its close custo­mer rela­ti­onships, Carton­plast has estab­lished a leading posi­tion throug­hout Europe in a market with solid growth rates. The company is bene­fiting from an incre­asing outsour­cing trend as well as from sustaina­bi­lity efforts and the growing importance of the circu­lar economy. In the coming years, Carton­plast is to conti­nue to grow dyna­mi­cally through inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion. In addi­tion, the offer is to be expan­ded, for exam­ple, through the addi­tio­nal rental of pallets and plas­tic cover caps.

“Stable market condi­ti­ons and a strong market posi­tion make Carton­plast an attrac­tive invest­ment oppor­tu­nity for DBAG,” commen­ted Tors­ten Grede, Spokes­man of DBAG’s Manage­ment Board, on the occa­sion of the signing of the contract. “We were also convin­ced by the entre­pre­neu­rial vision of the manage­ment. We see very good condi­ti­ons for further profi­ta­ble growth.”

“In the coming years, we will conti­nue our inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion,” said Serkan Koray, CEO of Carton­plast. “With DBAG, we have a strong and expe­ri­en­ced part­ner at our side who will accom­pany us in this important deve­lo­p­ment step.”

About DBAG
Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG, a listed company, initia­tes closed-end private equity funds and invests along­side DBAG funds in well-posi­tio­ned medium-sized compa­nies with deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial. DBAG focu­ses on indus­trial sectors in which German SMEs are parti­cu­larly strong by inter­na­tio­nal stan­dards. With this expe­ri­ence, know-how and equity, it streng­thens the port­fo­lio compa­nies in imple­men­ting a long-term, value-enhan­cing corpo­rate stra­tegy. The entre­pre­neu­rial invest­ment approach makes DBAG a sought-after invest­ment part­ner in the German-spea­king region. The capi­tal mana­ged and advi­sed by the DBAG Group amounts to appro­xi­m­ately 1.7 billion euros.