Navigator Paper Ups Offer for Accrol

Accrol Group Holdings has agreed to an increased and final offer from Navigator Paper UK which values the London-listed company at £130.8 million pounds ($164 million). Under the deal, accepting shareholders of the U.K. tissue producer will get 39 pence for each share held, up from 38 pence previously agreed. The price is a 15% premium to Accrol's closing price of 34.0 pence on March 21, the day before it agreed to the previous offer.

Navigator Paper UK initially launched an offer to acquire Accrol, a maker of tissue paper and wet wipes based in Blackburn, UK, in March. At the time, Accrol's board recommended the offer be accept. For the year ended April 30, 2023, Accrol reported sales of £242 million and earnings of £15.6 milllion. In January, Accrol expanded into key household markets through the acquisition of Severn Delta Limited, a maker of wet wipes and tumble dryer sheets based in Somerset, U.K. with revenues reported at £5 million. Accrol initially entered the wet wipes in 2021 when it purchased John Dale, Ltd., a U.K.-based maker of flushable and biodegradable wipes. 
 
Navigator Paper UK is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of The Navigator company, a large Portugese supplier of pulp, paper, tissue, packaging and biomass-based energy. It is ranked seventh world wide in the production of fine printing and writing paper as well as Europe’as largest supplier of eucalyptus pulp. In 2014, the company entered the tissue market and since then has made a number of acquisitions and greenfield investments, bringing its total production capacity of tissue paper to 165,000 tons and its converting capacity of tissue to 180,000 tons.
 
Navigator sees Accrol as a key pillar in its strategy of continued expansion into Western Europe's tissue business due to its position as a key supplier in the U.K. private label market.
 
"Accrol has undergone a period of significant transformation and growth over the last four years, investing in fully automating its tissue converting operations to enhance manufacturing capabilities,” says Accrol CEI Gareth ."I am proud and grateful for the efforts and commitment of our people. We have grown to become a leading manufacturer of private label, own branded and licensed tissue products to the UK market and have developed broad retail relationships and a robust supply model that enables us to produce great quality and value products.”

The companies said Friday that the offer--which puts an enterprise value of £188.2 million on Accrol--is final and won't be increased. Accrol said it hasn't received any other takeover proposals since it first agreed to be bought by Navigator on March 22, nor is it in any talks over any such deal.