RPC Group acquires Helioplast

The company, which supplies injection moulded rigid plastic packaging to the consumer food division is based in Bosnia and Herzegovina and employs 80 staff and generates circa £7m in annual sales.

“I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Helioplast which represents a further step in realising the focused growth strategy of ‘Vision 2020’​,” said Pim Vervaat, CEO, RPC, in a statement.

Superfos​

“With the support of Superfos, the Helioplast team has an exciting opportunity to further grow its business across a number of key export markets​.”

FoodProductionDaily contacted RPC for further comment but it declined to discuss the acquisition.

Suad Helić, MD, Helioplast, and one of the selling shareholders, will continue to lead the Helioplast business with support from the RPC Superfos cluster.

It has supplied customers in Bosnia and neighbouring Croatia for many years and made in-roads into export markets in the Balkan region as well as the south eastern European region.

In-mould label decoration​

From manufacturing facilities in Gračanica, Helioplast offers in-mould label decoration and an in-house tool shop.

RPC claims Helioplast is a good strategic fit because it offers benefits including extending the geographic reach of the Superfos cluster into the Balkan region, a manufacturing platform to introduce the Superfos industrial product range and purchasing and best practice synergies.

For the year ended December 31, 2012, the latest period for which audited accounts are available, Helioplast generated an operating profit before the deduction of depreciation and amortisation (“EBITDA”) of circa £1.4m.

The total deal value represents a multiple of circa 6x 2012 EBITDA which will be satisfied by a combination of up-front consideration and a series of deferred payments over the next three years.

The Acquisition is expected to enhance earnings for the Group in the next financial year ending March 31, 2015.