Croatian beverage crate moulder Kaplast up for sale

The owners of Croatian beverage crate moulder Kaplast have put the firm up for sale in a bid to broaden its cyclical business base and allow it to enter new markets across Europe.
Its controlling shareholder, the Feitl family, is inviting offers to purchase a minority or majority stake of up to 79% in the Vojnić-based company. But potential bidders will have to move fast if they want to beat the 2 June deadline to submit an initial letter of intent.

Currently, Kaplast’s single moulding plant supplies 73% of an estimated 22 million crates consumed by its regional market, comprising the states of the former Yugoslavia including Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The firm operates a modern, automated injection moulding shop, equipped with 12 presses ranging in clamping force from 35 to 950 tons. At present, Kaplast is the only local in-mould labelling (IML) and overmoulding crate producer, according to the Croatian branch of accountancy group Deloitte which is handling the sale.

The current management has continued to invest in the firm with the greater part of the plant moulding equipment installed between 2004 and 2009, stated Deloitte.

The Feitl family, which holds a stake of just over 73% in Kaplast, aims through the sale to expand the company’s customer base and/or product range to make it less cyclical. “The main goal of management is finding a partner which would enable the company to participate in the wider European market,” explained Deloitte senior associate Uros Kalinić.

Kaplast has already attracted interest from potential foreign bidders ready to enter the due diligence stage of the sale process, Kalinic added.

Despite its cyclical business, the Croatian moulder achieved average annual sales of around Euro 8 million over the past five years with average profit margins of 13%, according to Deloitte.

At one time, Kaplast was considering establishing a new plant to mould quality beverage crates with a local partner in China, but the management has since shelved the idea. But it is understood it could be revived at a later stage.

Kaplast is part owned by its workforce with the employees owning a shareholding of more than 20%. The Italian company General Plast holds a further 6.7% stake