ACCO Brands To Acquire Esselte Group Holdings

ACCO Brands Corporation announced on October 24^th 2016 that it has signed an agreement to acquire Esselte Group Holdings AB from the Boston based private equity firm J.W. Childs for $330 million in cash.  This acquisition will aim at creating a pan-European leader in the branded business products market.

Based in Lake Zurich, Illinois, ACCO Brands is amongst the world’s largest marketer and manufacturer or branded business, academic and consumer products. It includes recognised brands such as Derwent, GBC, Kensington, Rexel and many others which are sold in over 100 countries around the world.

Esselte is also a well known global manufacturer of branded office products and serves over 10,000 customers in 120 countries. The brands under its umbrella are Leitz, Rapid and Esselte and features products such as storage and organization, business machines and stapling and punch products along with many others.

ACCO Brands – A Pan-European Leader

By acquiring another large business products manufacturer, this acquisition will ensure that ACCO Brands remains one of the global leading marketers and manufacturers. This combination of the two companies will generate more than $600 million in combined European sales, ensuring that there is a greater consumer access along with deeper channel relationships.

ACCO Brands already has an extensive footprint in the European sales market but by adding the Esselte Group Holdings it will be able to expand upon this and increase its revenue across continental Europe. As well as this, it will also allow ACCO Brands to expand its product portfolio in key categories as well as enhancing their product innovation and customer relevance.

The Financial Details

ACCO Brands has agreed to complete this transaction using cash and Euro-dominated bank debt. As well as this, as part of the financing, as well as being contingent upon it closing the deal, ACCO Brands also intends to refinance its existing senior-secured credit facilities.

This transactions closing is dependent on the satisfaction of the customary closing conditions, along with regulatory approvals. It is expected to be completed in early 2017. ACCO Brand’s legal advisor is Latham & Watkins LLP and its financial advisor during this transaction is Rothschild.

To find out more in depth details about this acquisition, take a look at the ACCO Brands press release:

http://ir.accobrands.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112835&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2214979&language=en&country=gb