Wheb exits Petainer, reaps 2x return

Next Wave and Wheb acquired the company in a £16m management buyout from UK packaging specialist Rexam in November 2009.

At the time of the buyout, Petainer focused on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle manufacturing. It has since increased its product range to include larger containers such as beer kegs and has expanded its operations into new regions.

Wheb stated that its divestment resulted in a 2x return on investment for its 2008 private equity fund, Wheb Ventures Private Equity Fund 2. The vendor is understood to have not been imminently seeking an exit, though it chose to divest after being offered liquidity at an attractive rate of return.

It is the GP's second exit of 2014 after selling its stake in Advanced Manufacturing Control Systems, an Irish provider of technology solutions to the waste and recycling sector, in January.

Next Wave provided two rounds of expansion funding for postal operator Secured Mail in 2013, most recently in December, after backing the secondary buyout of the company in 2011.

Previous funding
The private equity arm of Belgian bank KBC provided a mezzanine tranche of less than 1x EBITDA to support the original deal.

Company
Founded in 1995 in Lidköping, Sweden, and with a second plant in Aš, Czech Republic, Petainer manufactures PET containers, packaging and refillable bottles.

Advisers
Equity - MacFarlanes (Legal).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Industrials
• Nordics
• Expansion
• WHEB Partners
• Sweden
• Next Wave Ventures