GESSEL advises Highlander Partners on its sale of the Akomex Group

GESSEL represented the Highlander Partners private equity fund in the sale of a majority stake in the Akomex Group.

The co-founder and current minority shareholder Sebastian Śliwa (supported by AMC Capital IV S.c. Sp., a fund advised by Mezzanine Management) will take over control of the company. The transaction requires antitrust clearance from the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK).

GESSEL provided comprehensive legal support at all stages of the transaction, including drafting of the transaction documentation and negotiations.

The GESSEL team working on this project was led by Marcin Macieszczak, managing partner and was composed of Maciej Kożuchowski, partner, Krzysztof Jasiński, senior associate, Bartłomiej Woźniak, senior associate, Adam Kraszewski, managing associate, and Karolina Krzal-Kwiatkowska, senior associate.

GESSEL has been involved in the Highlander Partners fund investment in Akomex at all its stages. We had the pleasure of advising our Client on the acquisition of a controlling stake in Akomex in 2010, and in the subsequent years, we worked with Highlander Partners and the Akomex Group on a sequence of strategic projects – including our support in the acquisition of Druk Pak carried out in a public-to-private structure in 2014. This transaction has enabled expanding the Akomex Group offer to include the pharmaceutical packaging sector. Advising Highlander Partners in the exit process crowns our commitment to this investment. We are happy that we had the opportunity to thus contribute to the creation of one of the largest packaging companies in Central Europe.

“Congratulations to Highlander Partners on a successful investment and, at the same time, thank you for your trust and the possibility of many years of cooperation in this project.
Due to the opportunity to participate in the entire transaction process – from advising on the purchase of the company, through activities that increase the company’s potential, to exit from the investment – it was a unique transaction for us, and one in which a large part of our team took part. I would like to thank all the GESSEL staff involved in the project and to wish our Client further successes and further successful investments ! “

– Marcin Macieszczak, managing partner, GESSEL

Highlander Partners is a private equity fund that deals with direct investments in manufacturing and service enterprises in selected industries. Highlander Partners operates in the United States and Central and Eastern Europe. The fund manages assets worth over USD 2 billion.

The Akomex Group is one of the leading producers of solid and corrugated cardboard packaging, leaflets and labels in Central Europe for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food, electronics and other sectors. The company was founded in 1993 in Starogard Gdański. It has 3 modern factories in Poland and Denmark, which produce over 1.8 billion packages annually.