The deal for the business and most of its assets was completed on 21 September and was overseen by Chris Pole and Mark Orton of KPMG, who initially oversaw the administration of Gelpack Excelsior and Gelpack Industrial when they were appointed on 3 August, with nearly all 175 employees made redundant at the time.
Orton said: “Gelpack’s established name within the packaging industry means it’s a good strategic fit for the new owner and we are pleased to have completed a sale of its business and assets.”
Visionscape has purchased Gelpack’s Granstand Road, Hereford facility, along with taking on seven former Gelpack staff, manufacturing equipment, all material stock and some stock in an external warehouse in Moreton-on-Lugg, Herefordshire. Some of the assets, including two Hosokawa Alpine co-extrusion lines, were purchased by international packaging giant Coveris soon after Gelpack's administration.
A spokesperson for Visionscape, whose UK site is located in Colchester, Essex, told PrintWeek that the group is now re-building and extending the Gelpack team from the local community. The spokesperson said the acquisition had been made as part of a wider global strategy to establish "closed-loop solutions" within the group, and that direct investments would soon be made to increase capacity and diversify its product ranges.
Visionscape executive director Harry Ackerman said he was “excited” to be welcoming Gelpack into the group.
“We have made an excellent investment and Gelpack’s established reputation will enable Visionscape to provide a more comprehensive range of services and solutions to the millions in the markets we operate,” he said.
One of the former Gelpack staff that has remained with the business, operations director Ian Harris, said he was committed to continuing to grow the business and carry on the Gelpack legacy under new leadership, benefitting from “Visionscape’s geographical reach”.
This is not the first time this year that Visionscape has rescued a UK-based business from administration, after its subsidiary Vision Petlon Polymers acquired Gloucestershire-based polymer manufacturer Petlon Polymers earlier this month, which had fallen into administration on 14 August.
Visionscape specialises in sanitation, energy and wastewater treatment, with circa-30,000 employees operating across 14 countries.
