Pillarstone exits Cuki

In addition to Pillarstone's ownership, Melitta also acquired the remaining holding from the company's majority shareholder and CEO Corrado Ariaudo, who will stay on with the business and retain his position to lead the company in its new phase of growth.

According to a statement, Cuki will benefit from the strong synergies with Cofresco Frischhalteprodukte, a company wholly controlled by Melitta. This business operates in the food packaging industry in Germany, UK, France, Spain, eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and already owns 18% of Cuki's subsidiary Cuki Cofresco.

Cuki underwent a financial debt reduction plan that saw a decline of the company's debt from €250m in 2006 to €67m in 2017. The acquisition includes a full refinancing of the company's credit exposure, Pillarstone said in a statement.

Pillarstone, a Europen restructuring vehicle dedicated to underperforming assets, acquired a portfolio of loans granted to five companies in 2015. The companies, including Cuki, were bought from Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit, with an aggregate nominal value of €1bn. Pillarstone now has around €2bn in bank debt under management, with more than €200m in committed investment.

Company
Founded in 1958 and based in Volpiano, near Turin, Cuki specialises in producing plastic films for food packaging. The company employs 503 staff, of which 376 are based in Italy and the remaining 127 work in the company's facilities in France, Turkey and Poland. Cuki generated a turnover of €200m in 2017, of which 25% came from abroad.

People
Pillarstone Italy – Andrea Nappa (partner).
Cuki – Corrado Ariaudo (CEO).
Melitta Group Management – Kurt Groh (corporate finance director).

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