PARIS, FRANCE: Quadient S.A has entered into a sale agreement with Dutch private equity firm Standard Investment for the sale of its Automated Packaging Solutions (APS) business and production facility based in Drachten, the Netherlands, a news release said.

Geoffrey Godet, Chief Executive Officer of Quadient, commented: “As we continue building leading market positions in high-growth businesses that are synergistic with our foundational mail-related activities, we are happy to announce this agreement with Standard Investment, a proven high-profile and hands-on investor, committed to strongly supporting the automated packaging business and the Drachten teams in their journey in the fit-to-size packaging solutions space.

 “This transaction marks another important step in our Back to Growth strategy. On the one hand, it will further contribute to the refocus of our business portfolio. On the other hand, it will allow us to optimize our industrial footprint, which will support the high profitability of our Mail-Related Solutions in the future.”

Amsterdam-based Standard Investment is a private equity firm focused on hands-on investments in medium-sized companies that can benefit from an active owner in relation to the complexities of carving-out from a corporate setting and positioning for strong future growth and opportunity in the market.

Standard Investment will be fully acquiring the Automated Packaging Solutions business, which includes industry award-winning innovations CVP Impack and CVP Everest that can pack-to-size for e-commerce businesses. APS teams are mainly based in Drachten, where the production facility is located, but also in the US, Germany, Belgium, France and the UK.

Herbert Schilperoord, partner responsible for the acquisition on behalf of Standard Investment, explained: “We have been very impressed by the know-how of the organization and the enthusiasm of the employees. The innovating technology they created is unique in its market, capable to generate custom fit-to-size packaging for every e-commerce order, making shipments more efficient, significantly reducing the use of cardboard and plastic filling material and contributing to reducing the carbon footprint of e-commerce deliveries.

We look forward to working together with the management team in the coming months on how we can best transform the organization into an independently operating company – corporate carve-outs being one of the focus areas of Standard Investment.”

The Drachten production site, which has about 240 employees, hosts sales, marketing, service, R&D and production teams for APS as well as for Document System (DS) mid-range folders/inserters, which Quadient will continue to market. As part of the transaction, mid-range DS production will be gradually transferred from Drachten to other Quadient industrial sites and suppliers, ensuring business continuity.

The completion of the transaction, which is subject to certain closing conditions, is expected in Summer 2021. The total selling price amounts to above €20 million. This transaction will lead to significant cost optimizations over time. After the sale of the Graphics business in Australia and New Zealand, this is the second divestiture in Quadient’s Additional Operations segment this year, which, taking into account those divestments, would have represented less than 6% of total revenue for full-year 2020 on a pro forma basis.

Quadient is listed in compartment B of Euronext Paris (QDT) and is part of the CAC Mid & Small and EnterNext Tech 40 indices.

Amsterdam-founded Standard Investment is a North-Western Europe-focused investment firm with offices in Amsterdam, Brussels and Stockholm, dedicated to “hands-on” investment in the mid-market. Founded in 2004, the firm operates with a philosophy of direct involvement with the companies in which it participates. Standard Investment has, among others, participations in Riedel, Synres, Aweta, The Future Group and Burger King Netherlands.

With a team of 16 professionals, it manages a portfolio of 16 companies, spread over 4 countries with over 4,300 employees and a cumulative turnover above €1 billion.