It was an operation “handled with patience and perseverance for over two years”, the one that brought Aetna Group, the fourth big by turnover in the Emilian packaging valley, to the control of the German competitor Meypack, a historic brand in end-of-line packaging, mainly for the food, spirits, home & personal care sectors. The words of the brothers Enrico and Valentina Aureli, shareholders and directors of the group born in Villa Verrucchio di Rimini over 40 years ago as an offshoot of SCM – today a multinational with ten plants in Italy, Germany, USA, China and Brazil, 1,670 employees and 341 million euros in turnover – suggest the importance of Meypack’s entry into the team, after years of courtship and a due diligence that began before Covid.
The society
The Nottuln company brings with it not only 31 million euros in revenues and 175 employees, but an important production center in North Rhine, a strategic presence in all German-speaking European markets (but also Poland, South Africa, Australia) and a very interesting customer portfolio for the Italian business, with global brands such as Purina in pet food, Hip and Humana in baby food, Manner in confectionery. “After the acquisition of Ocme di Parma in 2017, this is the most important operation for our group and will not remain isolated because we are accelerating the growth strategy by external lines in order to quickly reach half a billion euros in turnover “, specifies the third generation Aureli, which already this year aims to hit 400 million, despite the critical issues of the market . In addition to the increase in costs and inflation, “the timing of procurement of electrical and electronic components, with deliveries within 80 weeks for Siemens parts, weighs heavily. We are forced to invest in stocks – specify the Aurelis – to redesign our software platforms to adapt them to the various components we collect from suppliers and we have warehouses full of machines waiting for a chip for the final test before shipment ».
Forecasts
With the autumn and the arrival of the materials, a real exploit of the activities is expected “and here the other node comes to roost – add the managers – that is the difficulty in finding personnel to hire, while the number of employees who quit is growing to change your life, a phenomenon never recorded before in the history of the company. “Aetna Group joins Meypack with 70% of the shares, the former German owner Klaus Pekruhl remains a minority shareholder to ensure continuity and synergies and sits as chairman of the Advisory Board , together with Valentina and Enrico Aureli. Pekruhl is, among other things, former president of VDMA, the Confindustria packaging association in Germany, the German counterpart of Confindustria-Ucima, of which Enrico Aureli was president until two years ago. A further element that will strengthen the Italian-German partnership.