The former Mivisa (Crown Food Spain), the Spanish market leader in tinplate packaging for food and beverages, and owned by Crown Holdings, a global leader in consumer packaging, is resisting sale. The U.S. group has owned Mivisa since 2013, but has recently decided to divest not only its Spanish subsidiary but the entire food business it has in Europe. Crown Holding is asking for 2 billion dollars for the Spanish company and this is what has stopped one of its main interested parties, the British CVG, which had already been a shareholder in Mivisa some time ago.
However, there are still more interested parties. Lone Star, Platinum and Onex are still in the running.
According to the Spanish newspaper, Cinco Días, “according to Crown’s 2019 financial report, its food packaging business in Europe recorded sales of $1.887 billion (about 1.6 billion euros), and net profit was $205 million, 172.6 million euros, according to the U.S. group’s annual report. About a third of the sales corresponded to the former Mivisa”.
At the auction were “those investors with interests in the sector and who can exploit more synergies. These are the Canadian fund Onex, owner of SIG; the U.S. Platinum, owner of Ball Metalpack and which in Spain highlights the acquisition of Iberconsa, and the Lone Star fund”, said the Spanish newspaper.
But these interested parties are not willing to offer more than 1.5 billion. According to Cinco Días, Crown is considering canceling the sale process “due to the low appetite detected”.
