Bevcraft Group has announced the completion of a merger transaction with Heidrun Tapperi AS, the leading ‘craft can’ business in Norway.

The merger with Heidrun sees the group as the number one craft can business in Ireland, the UK and Norway with significant exports to more than a dozen other countries.

The group now employees over 40 people across it’s bases in Sandefjord (Norway), Breda (Netherlands), Mullingar (Ireland), St Helens (UK), Peterborough (UK), Basingstoke (UK) & Leeds/Bradford (UK) and works with over 400+ beverage producers across Europe.

Heidrun was founded in Sandefjord, Norway by Eirik Solvåg, Ørjan Solvåg & Ole Solvåg in 2016, the same year as the Bevcraft Group was founded in Mullingar, Ireland by Ciarán Gorman & Darren Fenton. Eirik & Ørjan will both join the Board of Directors of the Bevcraft Group.

Nordic Market

Bevcraft Group already works with clients across the Nordic market including in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland and the enlarged group will be much better positioned to service these clients and to continue to improve its offering across the region. The Nordics are exceptionally well developed craft beverage markets having been early adopters throughout the evolution of the sector.

Commenting on the transaction Darren Fenton, Bevcraft Group COO, said:

“Heidrun is one of the true pioneers of mobile canning in Europe. Like Bevcraft they have evolved into a professional full-service craft can specialist with mobile canning, can distribution and technical service offerings.

“We have long considered Heidrun one of the most technically adept and innovative operators as they have had to develop solutions particularly suitable for the Norwegian market which has a much more challenging geography, winter climate and labour market than our existing core markets.

“Unquestionably they will enhance the technical resources of the overall group and add to the overall knowledge base of the business.“

Commenting on the transaction Ciarán Gorman, Bevcraft Group CFO, said:

“The craft beverage market is continuing to evolve and has negotiated a relatively tough year as breweries and beverage producers have dealt with dramatic increases in energy and input costs coupled with shifts in consumer spending coming off the back of the Covid lockdown periods and now being impacted by inflation.

“We have always believed our role in the market is to equip our clients with the economies of scale, access to professional solutions and on-demand flexibility that they need to compete, grow and continue their focus on creating the depth and range of products the craft market is so brilliant at.”

This transaction continues to scale the overall business footprint to a point where more than a quarter of all the breweries in Europe are less than a three hour drive from a Bevcraft base.

Commenting on the transaction Eirik Solvåg, Heidrun Tapperi, CEO said:

“Bevcraft and Heidrun operate within the same client segments in the same industry, but although our head offices are only a couple of hours flight apart our core markets are in many ways (legislation, climate, distances etc.) very different.

“These differences are part of the strength of this merger, adding the strong Bevcraft operational organisation, digital can printing technology etc. we believe this merger will both strengthen our service level towards all our existing client base but also bring the group one step closer towards the vision we share to supply all corners of Europe with professional and flexible packaging solutions.”

Transaction Details

Bevcraft Group were advised by Chris Ball, Jackie Masterson, Catherine Sweeney & John Doherty of RBK (Athlone, Ireland) for Corporate Finance & Taxation requirements and Niamh Gibney & James Tansey of Reddy Charlton (Dublin, Ireland) along with Terje Gulbrandsen & Lars Tormodsgard of SANDS Advokatfirma DA (Oslo, Norway) on all Legal Advisory requirements.

Heidrun Tapperi AS retained Gisle André Bjørnø of BDO (Trondheim, Norway) for advisory services.
The transaction is an all-share equity swap with shares in Bevcraft Group granted as consideration to the owners of Heidrun Tapperi AS. Transaction value is not disclosed as neither company currently discloses detailed financial information.