Motion Equity Partners is pleased to announce the disposal of the HolwegWeber Group to Ambienta. HolwegWeber will benefit from the contribution of In.Pack Machinery, Ambienta’s current portfolio company, to reinforce its position of global leader in machinery for sustainable pre-made packaging.
HolwegWeber is a global player specialized in the design, development and assembly of eco-packaging machinery solutions. The Group is comprised of three historical brands Holweg, Weber and MDM and has a broad product offering in the paper machines space, including machines for flat bottom bags, square bottom bags and e-commerce bags. HolwegWeber’s solutions address resilient and attractive end markets (food retail, e-commerce, other retail) and serve a broad range of prestigious customers. Thanks to more than a century of cumulated IP and know-how, and unique R&D capacities, HolwegWeber is the market leader in terms of innovation, contributing to the reduction of virgin plastic use in people’s daily lives. The HolwegWeber Group operates three business units, for North America, Kiel WI – USA, for Europe Molsheim France and for Asia-Pacific Guangzhou – China.
Motion Equity Partners acquired HolwegWeber in 2018 alongside its Management team, committed to an ambitious growth project based on the acceleration of R&D strategy and further international expansion, through a combination of both organic and external growth.
Under Motion Equity Partners’ ownership, thanks to a strong R&D effort (notably on the e-commerce packaging), the reinforcement of the salesforce combined to macrotrends positive acceleration driven by the shift from virgin plastic to sustainable packaging, the Group has doubled its sales and profitability and benefits from a record backlog, with orders until 2024.
Motion Equity Partners also actively supported the group’s external growth strategy, allowing for a transforming acquisition in China in 2021, and to build a strong M&A pipeline resulting in promising upcoming opportunities. Motion Equity Partners is also proud to have supported the implementation and deployment of an ambitious CSR strategy, notably enabling the group to clarify its mission: contribute to the reduction of the use of virgin plastic in our day-to-day lives. HolwegWeber is now ideally positioned to combine its expertise with In.Pack, to become the reference sustainable packaging solutions player in the world.
Formed in 2019 when Ambienta acquired the Group Amutec, In.Pack is an Italian group leader in film-based bag-making machines with 2 production facilities in Italy. By creating In.Pack, Ambienta combined 3 separate companies, expanding In.Pack’s addressable markets and geographical reach, resulting in a comprehensive product offering covering sectors such as waste, fruit and vegetables, industrial applications and e-commerce.
With a diversified offering of machines, a strong presence in Latin America and a proven M&A platform having already realized 2 acquisitions, In.Pack is perfectly positioned to join HolwegWeber’s project. Led by HolwegWeber’s current CEO, Jérôme Onoratini, the combination of In.Pack and HolwegWeber will achieve €130m in revenues and constitute a one-stop shop player in the flexible packaging market being the reference market in terms of size, product range, profitability, commercial and manufacturing footprint capable of supplying the leading packaging companies globally.
Cédric Rays, Partner at Motion Equity Partners, stated: “Since Motion’s entry in 2018, HolwegWeber has scaled-up to become a leading global provider of eco-packaging machinery solutions at the forefront of sustainability. HolwegWeber’s success story perfectly fits with Motion Equity Partners’ DNA.”
Anthony Baudoin, Partner at Motion Equity Partners, added: “We are very proud to have supported HolwegWeber’s evolution, strengthening the Group’s leadership, helping it position itself as a reference innovation player and initiating its ambitious external growth strategy. We are pleased to hand-over to Ambienta and In.Pack, which we believe is a great opportunity to create a global leader in sustainable packaging.”
Jérôme Onoratini, CEO of The HolwegWeber Group, added: “The partnership with Motion Equity Partners was key in the definition and implementation of our roadmap on the strategic, commercial, M&A and ESG front. We are now fully set up for our next development phase: the combination of In.Pack and HolwegWeber will allow to create a global, sustainable and diversified platform. We are looking forward to this new journey with Ambienta to better serve the mission to provide sustainable packaging solution for people’s daily life.”
