Slovenian moulder Tomplast is sold to investment firm
2018-12-20

The private equity owner of Slovenian injection moulder Tomplast has sold the company to another investment firm for an undisclosed amount.

Czech company ARX Equity Partners bought Tomplast from its retiring founders in 2007. It said its investment will generate an overall 4.1x cash-on-cash return multiple and an IRR exceeding 20%, following the sale to financial investor KJK Capital, based in Finland.

In 2008, ARX also bought Unitplast, another injection moulder based in Slovenia. “Under ARX’s ownership both companies were fully integrated, while the enlarged business was repositioned to focus increasingly on automotive components,” said ARX.

Tomplast’s annual revenues have increased from €13m in 2007 to more than €40m in 2015. Employee numbers expanded from 77 to 300 during the ARX holding period.

Tomplast supplies a wide range of automotive injection mouldings, including complex parts using technologies such as two-component moulding and gas injection. It has 26 injection moulding machines, most of them KraussMaffei machines, with clamping forces ranging from 50 to 1,000 tonnes, according to its website.

“Our investment in Tomplast is a representative example of the types of opportunities available in the Central European lower mid-market,” said ARX managing partner Brian Wardrop. “We succeeded in acquiring two smaller companies, which were both facing acute shareholder and managerial succession issues, in order to create an internationally competitive niche plastic components supplier.”