Constantia Flexibles to go public before the end of the year
Its listing in German financial hub Frankfurt is expected to take place around November 28, according to Reuters.
The deal will float more than 50% of the Austrian group's shares and is expected to raise between EUR €600m and €800m.
Regional HQ in Dubai
Wolfgang Schwaiger, head of group communications, Constantia Flexibles, confirmed the news with FoodProductionDaily.
“We plan to take our company public before the end of the year,” he said.
“Our biggest challenge is to use the growth opportunities in our industry, especially in the emerging markets - together with our customers. In this sense we have recently established a regional headquarters for emerging markets in Dubai.”
The Austrian firm, which makes packaging for food and pharmaceuticals and labels for bottles, recently announced its preliminary Q3 financial results and said excluding the acquisitions made in 2013 (Globalpack, Spear, Parikh Packaging), it increased sales revenues by 4.6% from EUR €991.5m in the first nine months of 2012 to EUR €1,037.4m in the first nine months in 2013.
Acquisitions
It has 8,200 employees and competes with Australia's Amcor and Bemis and Sealed Air in the US.
“The growth in the first three quarters is primarily the result from our recent acquisitions in Mexico, USA and India. Organically, we grew at a rate of 4.6%, compared to Q3/ 2012,” said Schwaiger.
“Acquisitions are part of our long-term strategy and we continue screening the market for opportunities.”
Adjusted EBITDA (excluding the impact of acquisitions) increased by 8.2% from EUR 143.4m in the first nine months of 2012 to EUR €155.1m in the first nine months of 2013. The adjusted EBITDA margin excluding acquisitions was 15%.
Globalpack, Spear, Parikh Packaging
Including the acquisitions made in 2013, sales increased by 24.4% to EUR €1,233.8m in the first nine months of the year. Adjusted EBITDA2 improved by 22.2% to EUR €175.3m. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 14.2%.
Net debt was EUR 438.9m at the end of the third quarter 2013. This figure includes an adjustment of the price for the Globalpack acquisition of EUR €63.6m. The payment to Constantia Flexibles will be due in December 2013. The increase of net debt by EUR €138.3m compared to December 31, 2012 is mainly driven by the acquisitions made this year (Globalpack, Spear, Parikh Packaging).
Speaking about future trends Schwaiger added that it operates in a stable environment and did not expect any surprising trends.
“We see sustainable growth potential for flexible packaging from the global population increase, from the emergence of new middle classes, from longer life expectancies, smaller households, the substitution of rigid by flexible packaging,” he said.
The listing sees the exit of OEP, which owns around 73% of Constantia Flexibles. The company is set to get EUROS €150m from the deal to fund future acquisitions.
The Turnauer foundation that owns 23% has pledged to maintain its stake, therefore it will purchase some of the shares offered in a capital increase accompanying the IPO.
A second listing on the Vienna Stock Exchange is planned.
