H.I.G. Acquires M.J. Maillis Group
HAMBURG – February 10, 2015 – H.I.G. Europe, the European affiliate of H.I.G., a global investment firm focused on small and mid-sized companies, announced that it has completed the acquisition of the M.J. Maillis Group. After signing a comprehensive debt and equity restructuring agreement with Company’s lenders in June 2014, an affiliate of H.I.G. has acquired the Maillis Group through a series of transactions including a public takeover bid and a debt-to-equity swap. As a result of the transaction, the shares of the Maillis Group were also delisted from the Athens Stock Exchange.
Established in 1968, the Maillis Group is the world’s second largest manufacturer of end-of-line packaging equipment and offers its customers “one-stop solutions”. In addition to supplying consumables such as strapping and film products, Maillis produces innovative packaging machines under well-known brand names including Wulftec & SIAT and offers its customers international after-sales services.
Maillis is an international company with seven production sites located in Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Canada and the United States. Currently, the company has approximately 1,500 employees. With more than 15,000 customers and a broad product portfolio, the company generates more than €260 million in revenues, less than 5% of which are in Greece.
Michael Maillis, Founder and Chairman of the Board, commented on the transaction: “H.I.G. has shown considerable patience to finally agree on terms with the Group’s lenders. Together with H.I.G., the new management of the Group will focus on growth and on improving our internal processes in order to improve the Group’s responsiveness to our customers’ packaging needs.”
Wolfgang Biedermann, Managing Director of H.I.G. Europe, added: “H.I.G. is very pleased with the Maillis transaction. This is a landmark transaction in Greece as it is one of the first capital restructurings of a private enterprise in close cooperation with local banks. With H.I.G., the Maillis Group not only has new ownership, but also a financially strong partner to accelerate growth and to improve the profitability in the years to come.”
About M.J. Maillis Group
The M. J. Maillis Group is a leader in the field of end-of-line packaging solutions, providing complete, high technology and cost effective packaging solutions (one-stop-shop) that combine packaging equipment, packaging materials, service and support. The company has approximately 1,500 employees and offices located in 18 countries throughout Europe, North America and Asia. The Group’s customer base extends to the food, beverage, steel, construction, timber and cosmetics industries. The M.J. Maillis Group is the exclusive and preferred supplier of well-known companies such as US Steel, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, P&G, Henkel, Pepsi, Mars, Lafarge, ArcelorMittal and Wal-Mart.
About H.I.G.
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with more than €13 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:
- H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
- H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as on the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
- Other H.I.G. funds invest in various real assets, including real estate and shipping.
Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 80 companies with combined sales in excess of €22 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higeurope.com.
* Based on total capital commitments to funds managed by H.I.G. Capital and its affiliates.