A supplier to luxury brands, the family-owned Verpack group, founded by Jean-Claude Viers in Paris in 1993, is completing a managerial and shareholder transition initiated four years ago. Stéphane Viers takes over the presidency of the group and the majority of voting rights in the holding company created for the occasion. Crédit Mutuel Equity becomes the reference minority shareholder with 25% of the capital, alongside the company's key managers. This LBO, advised by Pax Corporate Finance, will enable Verpack to boost its growth by pursuing its strategy of external growth. Verpack generated sales of over €42 million in 2019 and employs 450 people.

 One of France's leading manufacturers of high-end cardboard boxes and cases, Verpack serves the most prestigious customers in the cosmetics, perfume, leather goods, spirits and luxury goods industries. With four production sites in France and one in Tunisia, the company boasts substantial printing and finishing resources, while positioning itself on major issues of social and environmental responsibility, to support its customers in implementing more virtuous packaging solutions. This approach is part of an underlying trend that has seen many customers relocate their production to the Group's plants in recent years, benefiting from innovations and unrivalled levels of service and responsiveness.
" This operation marks a new era for our group, one of dynamic growth. It's a time for us to pool our expertise and resources in the service of French manufacturing, a welcome development for our customers. In this, ethics, quality, safety and, of course, the environment will be key values more than ever. "explains Stéphane Viers.

 Towards a new positioning

With the entry of Crédit Mutuel Equity, this transaction, advised by Pax Corporate Finance, aims to support the group's growth, its European expansion and future acquisitions. Verpack has built up its business mainly through successive acquisitions, with the purchase of Cartonnages Guillaume (Ile de France) in 2000, CLP Packaging (Burgundy) from the American group Chesapeake in 2006, and Korus Packaging (Bordeaux) in 2013. With the support of its new shareholder, the company intends to keep up the momentum. This operation also completes the move initiated by the group four years ago, to create a common brand and lead its various plants to standardize their processes.

The deal is supported by a moderate level of debt, mainly provided by the historic banks, notably BNP Paribas and Caisse d'Épargne Ile-de-France, co-arrangers, as well as Crédit du Nord and Société Générale. The financing includes a specific line designed to ensure reactivity in terms of acquisitions.

"Proud to accompany this leading player in premium packaging in its managerial transition to support its development, we were seduced by its fine French industrial facilities, the relevance of its business model, and its constant capacity to innovate in the service of a portfolio of prestigious customers, while being a forerunner in CSR issues. The group's critical size and strong market position make it ideally positioned for the external growth operations we are keen to support.add Jean-Marie Giannettini and Jean-Baptiste Champeau, Investment Directors at Crédit Mutuel Equity.

After four weeks of total shutdown in order to preserve the safety of its employees, g.pivaudran, a French family-owned company and market leader in aluminum components for perfumery, cosmetics and spirits, reopened the Souillac sites on April 20, 2020.

During this period of closure, Marc Pivaudran, President of g.pivaudran, regularly communicated with his staff by sending out information notes. The health and safety of our employees was and remains a top priority for the management of g.pivaudran. This was one of the key conditions for the reopening of the plant.

A highly organized recovery

The resumption on April 20 involved 60 % of the workforce. "We had to adapt workstations and train managers in safety instructions, which we ensure are rigorously applied. Before deciding to open the sites, we all worked hard to obtain masks, gloves, gel and thermometers, to enable production, sales and administrative teams to work in optimal safety conditions, linked to this pandemic", explains Hervé Delaigue, g.pivaudran sales & development director.

A close relationship with customers

"We stayed close to our customers during the opening period, to explain our position and the overall evolution of our vision of the ever-changing load. Through these exchanges, we were able to keep a close eye on our customers' business and obtain valuable information on the priority references to be produced for the takeover. At the time, we were able to assess just how important it was to be on the leading references in this perfume, make-up and skincare market", emphasizes Hervé Delaigue.

Precise monitoring of your order book

At g.pivaudran, we'll need to keep a constant eye on the evolution of our order book. Vigilance is essential in the context of this business resumption. A precise and strategic business continuity plan has been put in place to deal with this situation. The company g.pivaudran has organized itself to react and meet the demands of its customers. From now on, it will be necessary to analyze and serve order books with their priorities. "We have an overview of our customers' order books (orders, deferrals, cancellations), which we try to make as accurate as possible for the next three weeks. We regularly review the situation and adjust the organization according to priorities," explains Hervé Delaigue.

"We've already had a few consultations with our customers about new launches. Others have postponed by a few months projects already signed and in development, but on the whole, we remain confident and highly motivated," concludes Marc Pivaudran.