Klöckner Pentaplast Group, a leading supplier of pharmaceutical films, was sold in October to Cinven, a European investment firm, for $827 million.
Operations at Klöckner Pentaplast of America Inc. (Gordonsville, VA) and Klöckner Pentaplast GmbH (Montabaur, Germany) are expected to remain the same. There are no plans for layoffs, and the company's name will not change. Klöckner Pentaplast has 14 production facilities in six countries and employs 3100 people. The company had sales of $778 million for the fiscal year ended September 2001.
Cinven (London, Paris, and Frankfurt, Germany) is acquiring Klöckner Pentaplast from Klöckner-Werke AG (Duisberg, Germany), a business of WCM Holdings and Property (Frankfurt). This transaction comes less than a year after WCM bought out Klöckner-Werke for $1 billion. Since that acquisition in January, WCM had been evaluating each Klöckner unit for restructure or sale.
The sale is subject to approval by antitrust authorities. Approval from Klöckner-Werke's supervisory board and shareholders is expected by mid-December.
Cinven says it will support Klöckner Pentaplast financially and strategically to improve market share and performance. "Klöckner Pentaplast is a strong business with an excellent management team," says Peter Gangsted, managing director of Cinven's Frankfurt office. "The company can be further enhanced through the strategic opportunities and capital investment that Cinven can bring."
"Their objectives and goals are the same as ours," says Nancy Ryan, communications and media manager for Klöckner Pentaplast of America. "We have had an aggressive strategy for internal growth, expansion, and acquisitions. That will continue. They will support us in all those ventures."
Erik Swain
