Aurelius sells Solidus to Centerbridge for €330m

Katharine Hidalgo
28 June 2019

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Aurelius Equity Opportunities has agreed to sell Solidus Solutions to Centerbridge Partners for €330m.

Aurelius achieved a money multiple of approximately 16x over the four-year holding period, according to a statement.

The exit is the largest in the special situations investor's history. Aurelius grew the company by assisting with the installation of new IT infrastructure, upgrades to machinery and processes, the implementation of energy efficiency measures, a reduction in the costs of materials procurement, investment in automation, product innovation, and a review of the company's operational and commercial activities. In total, the company says it invested €60m during the holding period.

Centerbridge is currently investing from its Centerbridge Capital III vehicle, which closed on $6bn in 2014. The fund was 60% deployed as of December 2018.

The company generates adjusted EBITDA of approximately €50m. This transaction is expected to close in the coming 8-12 weeks.

Previous funding
Aurelius acquired the solid board and graphic board manufacturing business of Smurfit Kappa for an undisclosed amount in 2015. The business included two graphic board mills and an integrated solid board operation consisting of two mills and four converting sites. The operations sold had net assets amounting to €42m.

Solidus acquired Fibor Packaging in 2016, Abelan South in 2017 and Northern Paper Board in 2018, extending the company's operations into France, Germany, Spain and UK, growing sales by €135m.

Company
Solidus is a sustainable fibre-based packaging provider for food, consumer goods and industrial applications. With seven mills, seven converters and three sales offices across Europe, it manages the process of recovered paper for multiple products and industries around the world. The company was founded around 1870 and employs mroe than 1,000 people, according to LinkedIn.

People
Aurelius Equity Opportunities – Dirk Markus (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Rothschild & Co (M&A); Deloitte (corporate finance); Jones Day (legal); EY (tax); Ramboll (environmental due diligence).