New Esko goes for growth

Recently acquired Esko-Graphics is poised for growth organically and by acquisition. Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen, a director and partner at Axcel, the leading Danish private equity company that has purchased the packaging interests of Esko said: “We don’t go into Esko to stand still. We will focus management attention on growth. The packaging part of the company is profitable and has been for a while. Also we see acquisition opportunities.”

Axcel has a capital commitment totalling over Euro800M and invests in competitive medium sized companies “which have a potential for improvement and value creation”. Major acquisitions for Esko are not envisaged for the first year, but small to medium sized companies are not ruled out he conveyed. “We have a horizon of three to seven years to sell for a profit.”

New ceo of Esko Carsten Knudsen told Converting Today: “The acquisition pipeline is high on our agenda. Are actions starting immediately? Yes. Will we acquire a company tomorrow? No. We have many products that will show good organic growth and we have lots of huge opportunities for marketing in other areas.” (At LabelExpo the company launched the CDI Spark 2120, a small footprint flexo imager designed for narrow web and label printing, and were part of the HP Indigo newly launched Digital Laser Workflow where prepress software is based on Esko’s Scope.)

“Acquisitions will add spice, we can fill a few holes in the cheese, but I don’t see acquisitions as the major driver in growth initially,” he added, “but I can’t predict what will happen in a few years.”

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