Investment company The Carlyle Group subscribes to €125m in private secured notes issued by Pro-Gest's subsidiaries Cartiere Villa Lagarina and Tolentino.
Italy's paper and packaging group Pro-Gest has completed the construction of a state-of-the-art corrugated board plant in Grezzago, halfway between Monza and Bergamo in the Italian province of Lombardy. The facility houses a new Fosber corrugator. It can repotedly reach speeds of up to 450 m/min and has a production capacity of 300 million m² per year. Production is scheduled for start-up in January.
In the meantime, Pro-Gest announced a closing of a deal with the international investment company The Carlyle Group. Carlyle subscribed to €125m in private secured notes issued by Pro-Gest subsidiaries Cartiere Villa Lagarina Spa and Tolentino Spa. According to Pro-Gest, Carlyle also committed to purchasing a further €75m worth of notes by the end of this year, which will be issued by its subsidiary Cartitalia Srl.
The transaction with Carlyle is said to simplify "the capital structure and create significant financial flexibility for the group", and will also provide "liquidity to support the growth ambitions of the group," Pro-Gest announced.
"The transaction heralds a new era for the Pro-Gest Group. With a reinforced capital structure, the group is well-placed to accelerate its growth and benefit from the structural positive trends in the industry, particularly with the restart of the Mantua plant," Bruno Zago, founder of the Pro-Gest group commented.
Pro-Gest also announced changes at the helm of the company with Bruno Zago being nominated as Chairman of the Board and his son Francesco Zago as CEO. In addition, the executive board is said to be expaned from five to nine members.
This article is a free excerpt from our latest article on Pro-Gest. The complete article was published in EUWID Pulp Paper issue 1/2 on 13 January.
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