Europackaging in the bag for MidOcean

Europackaging today announced it was being bought by MidOcean Partners in a deal intended to extend the company's reach internationally.

Attila Balogh the incoming chief executive of Europackaging, said that MidOcean, would use the company's already "impressive" geographical structure to aggressively extend the business internationally.

The move would allow Europackaging to mirror the moves of its clients, the European retailers that have been expanding eastwards to capture new markets.

"Partnering with MidOcean gives us an exciting opportunity to further expand our operations and consider acquisitions to bolster continued growth for the group," Europackaging stated in a press release.

The deal is estimated to be worth up to £190m (€281m), according to the Financial Times.

Europackaging has an annual turnover of £225m. Its customers include the UK's biggest supermarkets, Swedish Ikea and French Carrefour. The sale will leave Europackaging with a minority share in the company.

Graham Thomas, a MidOcean partner said that Europackaging had positioned itself as a leading supplier to retailers.

"We see enormous opportunity in extending the presence into all goods not for resale, using the impressive platform and network of the existing business," he said.

Europackaging is a UK based international company with manufacturing sites in the UK, Malaysia, Turkey and the US. In addition to manufacturing it produces over 2,000 other product categories from a wide variety of suppliers.

Europackaging produces plastic and paper bags and other packaging, such as containers and dispensers.

MidOcean is a private equity firm based in New York and London.