Orbis Partners Finalises the Cross-Border Sale of Premier Paper Group to Japan Pulp and Paper Company
Japan Pulp and Paper Company Limited (JPP) has acquired RADMS, the holding company that owns Premier Paper Group (Premier Paper) in a multi-million-pound sale. Having been approached by JPP, Orbis was appointed by Premier Paper to negotiate on price and terms to ensure the best deal for shareholders and then manage the sales process through to completion.
With an annual turnover of £233m, Premier Paper is the second largest paper merchant by sales in the UK. The group has a workforce of 480 employees, operates out of 18 facilities, and has approximately 3,000 customers. Premier Paper has seen continued success over recent years to become one of Europe’s most successful paper merchants and has set itself ambitious growth plans over the coming years.
Japan Pulp and Paper Company Limited is a £4bn turnover global company which employs 3,900 people across a number of diverse sectors such as; property, ICT systems, renewable energy, recycling, paper manufacturing (mainly tissue and packaging papers) and paper distribution. With operations in North America, Central America, Asia, Middle East, Australasia and Europe; JPP is a business operating in many diverse sectors but with paper at its core. It is best known in the UK for its publishing merchant Gould Paper Sales.
The strategic sale of Premier Paper will help to grow the business further and achieve its objective of enhancing the businesses global network and diversifying into parallel market sectors, such as display and packaging. At the same time, the group will continue to focus on maintaining its position in the coated and uncoated sector. Premier Paper’s management team will remain in place and look forward to taking the business to its next stage of growth.
Premier is an excellent fit with JPP’s growing worldwide paper merchanting business and Orbis provided fantastic support in facilitating the transaction. Orbis provided not only strong commercial input but also took good care of the detail as the transaction progressed through the stages from LOI through to completion.
Dave Allen, Managing Director
As the leading independent player in the UK paper merchanting business, Premier is the ideal acquisition to strengthen JPP’s presence in the UK market. The strategy to further develop into complementary products such as display and packaging is common to both Premier and JPP and the scale and strength of JPP will allow Premier to accelerate these plans. The direct approach from JPP was attractive to Premier for a number of reasons and the terms which we were able to negotiate provide an excellent return for the management and employee-shareholders.
