INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund and Eco Baltia sign agreement to acquire largest Polish PVC recycler Metal-Plast

INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, the leading private equity fund in the Baltic States, together with its portfolio company Eco Baltia, the largest waste management and recycling group in the Baltics, announces the signing of an agreement to acquire a 70% stake in the largest Polish PVC windows recycler, Metal-Plast.

The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2023, subject to receiving permission from the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection as well as fulfilling other conditions precedent.

Metal-Plast has about EUR 34 million in annual revenues and employs about 200 people. The company is located in Swiebodzice in the Lower Silesia province of Poland. It has current annual recycling capacities of 29,000 tonnes. From an environmental reporting perspective, 1 ton of recycled PVC saves 2 tons of CO2 emissions.

As part of the transaction. Mr. Sebastian Fedorowicz, Founder at Metal-Plast, will retain a 30% stake in the business. He added:

"Following 30 years of successful operations, Metal-Plast has become the leader of the Polish PVC recycling market. This strategic partnership with Eco Baltia and INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund will now enable the company to pursue further growth opportunities.”

Janis Aizbalts, Head of Eco Baltia’s Environmental Services division, commented:

"Eco Baltia continues to grow and expand, not only in the Baltics but also internationally and Metal-Plast fits our internationalisation strategy very well. We now plan to develop Metal-Plast's recycling capacities by 1.5x to 45,000 tonnes in a year, furthering our contribution to the evolution of circular economies.”

Vytautas Plunksnis, Partner at INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund and Chairman of the Eco Baltia Supervisory Board, added:

"Metal-Plast represents the 8th portfolio investment of INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund. The circular economy remains one of our core investment pillars and we are delighted to again partner with one of the most successful portfolio companies to date in Eco Baltia and Mr. Fedorowicz to further drive Metal-Plast’s exciting growth journey.” 

The company will continue to be led by current CEO Mr. Grzegorz Jasinski. He concluded:

"I’m happy that Metal-Plast’s impressive recent track record attracted such strong investors who are well equipped with both capital and expertise to further support our growth in the PVC recycling market. A new wave of window replacement in both Poland and Germany is anticipated and the European Commission estimates that building renovation will be necessary for over 35 million residential buildings in the EU by 2030.”

Post transaction, Eco Baltia will own 42%, S. Fedorowicz 30% and INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund 28% of the shares in Metal-Plast. INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund owns a 52.8% stake in Eco Baltia, while 30.5% is owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The remaining shares are owned by the management of the company.

Metal-Plast was advised by M&A advisor mInvestment Banking S.A. (part of mBank group) and law firm Ozóg Tomczykowski. Eco Baltia and the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund were advised by Wolf Theiss, Sorainen, and Deloitte.

In addition, INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund’s investment period will end in 2024. As a result, the team has already launched a fundraising programme for its successor fund – INVL Private Equity Fund II. This will seek to attract EUR300 million as a target from investors. For full information, please visit: https://bsgf.invl.com/.

INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund

With a size of EUR 165 million, the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund is a leading equity fund in the Baltics. The European Investment Fund ("EIF”) is its anchor investor.

The EIF, which is a part of the European Investment Bank, has committed EUR 30 million with the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (a key element of the Investment Plan for Europe, or ‘Junker Plan’) whilst also allocating resources from the Baltic Innovation Fund, a "fund of funds” initiative developed in cooperation with the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The initiative aims to increase capital investment in high-growth potential small and medium-sized enterprises in the Baltics.

The fund seeks to assemble a diversified portfolio of companies, targeting majority or significant minority stakes through investments ranging from of EUR 10 million to EUR 30 million. These companies must demonstrate high growth potential and an ability to succeed in conditions of increasing global competition and market volatility.

The fund is focused on the Baltic countries and neighbouring regions including Poland, the Nordics, and Central Europe. The fund has invested in seven companies to date, focusing on sectors including healthcare, medical rehabilitation, civil engineering, environmental management (plastic recycling and waste management), veterinary services, and the manufacturing of cosmetics and hygiene products.

The fund is managed by INVL, the leading Baltic investment management and life insurance group. The group’s companies manage pension and mutual funds, life insurance directions, individual portfolios, private equity as well as other alternative investments. More than 300,000 clients in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plus international investors have entrusted the group with the management of over EUR 2 billion of assets. With a track record spanning 30 years, the group has strong expertise and experience in managing private equity assets and building true market players that are leaders in their respective fields in the Baltic countries and across Central and Eastern Europe.

Eco Baltia

Eco Baltia group is the largest environmental and waste management group in the Baltics, providing the full-cycle waste management solutions from waste collection and sorting to secondary raw material logistics, wholesale and raw material processing as well as PET and PE/PP plastics recycling.

Eco Baltia group has closed 2022 with its historically highest consolidated turnover of EUR 210 million, representing a 75% increase compared to 2021. Total combined sales revenue (pro-forma) in 2022 amounted to 240.5 million euro.

The group companies employ around 2,300 employees in Latvia, Lithuania, and Czech Republic. Its leading companies are PET Baltija, Eco Baltia vide, Latvijas Zalais punkts, Nordic Plast, JUMIS, Pilsetas Eko Serviss, Czech TESIL Fibres and Lithuania-based Ecoservice. 

Shareholders of Eco Baltia are private equity fund INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund (52.81%), the European Bank for the Reconstruction and Development (30.51%) and management of the company (16.68%).

Contact person for further information:
Vytautas Plunksnis, Head of Private Equity at INVL group,
E-mail: vytautas.plunksnis@invl.com