Verescence, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of glass bottles to the fragrance and cosmetics industry, has been sold by Stirling Square Capital Partners in a multimillion-euro deal.
A consortium of Movendo Capital and asset manager Draycott has acquired the 130-year-old French glassmaker.
The deal values Verescence at €490m, including debt, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.
Verescence has production and finishing sites in France, Spain, the US and South Korea, employing 2,500 staff globally, and supplies the likes of Chanel, LVMH, L’Oréal and Hermés.
Private equity firm Stirling Square acquired Verescence from Oaktree Capital Management in 2019.
“We are pleased to welcome new shareholders who support our strategy, investment plans and sustainability program, including our decarbonisation roadmap,” said Thomas Riou, President of Verescence.
“We are convinced that this project is positive for all our employees, our customers and our partners.”
“Stirling Square has been a phenomenal partner, providing investment and expertise that enabled our global expansion, strategic shift to expand our skincare offering to meet the growing needs of our customers.
“They have also encouraged us to embed innovation across our industrial processes and accelerated our digital transformation that has resulted in us adopting a more data-driven approach across the organisation.”
Under Stirling Square’s ownership, Verescence acquired manufacturing facilities in South Korea in 2021 to expand into the high-growth, premium beauty segment in Asia.
The firm invested €100m in automation and expanding capacity through the development of proprietary IP underpinned by AI and machine learning, as well as supporting a move towards more sustainable production.
Verescence’s revenues increased by 40% to €421m and EBITDA trebled to more than €80m, the private equity firm said in a statement.
João Coelho Borges, Founding Partner of Draycott, and Pedro Pereira Gonçalves, CEO of Movendo said in a statement: “We are delighted to acquire a global leader with a strong and experienced management team that is perfectly aligned with our value creation strategy.
“Verescence’s leading position in the industry aligns with our investment criteria in several key dimensions.
“By combining management’s expertise with our own, we aim for sustainable growth and value creation for all stakeholders.”
Netherlands-based venture capital firm Movendo recently exited its investment in hand sanitiser brand Touchland, which was sold to Nair and Batiste owner Church & Dwight for US$700m.