Nomacorc eyes growth after buy out

Synthetic closure producer Nomacorc has announced plans for expansion and an extended research and development programme after coming under new ownership.

The company, which currently produces over two billion closures annually, with production facilities in the US, Belgium China and Argentina, has seen founder and chairman Marc Noël enter a new partnership with private equity firm Bespoke Capital Partners. Together they have recapitalised the business and bought out previous stakeholder Summit Partners to take full control of the firm.

Commenting on the deal, Robert L. Berner III, Bespoke’s co-managing partner, said: “Nomacorc has developed a leading market share in the overall wine closure sector with an attractive financial profile. The Company’s culture of technical expertise, ability to tailor products to customer requirements, product reliability and exceptional cost management are key contributors to its success, and clearly differentiate Nomacorc’s operations from other closure businesses.”

Meanwhile Mark Harms, co-managing partner of Bespoke added, “We invested in Nomacorc as a platform for consolidation of the highly fragmented supply chain in the $250 billion global wine industry. We look forward to supporting the management team in executing a growth strategy to increase the types of products and services offered to the wine industry thereby leveraging and enhancing the company’s already formidable distribution capabilities.”

Explaining the appeal of joining forces with these new investors, Noël commented: “Bespoke’s experience, strong track record and deep domain expertise in the wine industry will support the Company’s infrastructure for growth and help drive global expansion.”

In particular, he noted: “Bespoke’s model is very attractive to entrepreneurs like myself who are looking for a thoughtful partner and structured capital solution that enables us to accelerate value creation and focus our efforts on the truly long-term potential of the enterprise.”

Lars von Kantzow, president & CEO of Nomacorc, highlighted the scope for growth created by this move, confirming: “We’ll be able to expand the Nomacorc brand and all that it entails – superior quality, groundbreaking innovation and exceptional customer service – to deliver on our ultimate objective of ensuring that wine is experienced and enjoyed by the consumer just as the winemaker intended.”

For a detailed look at developments in the closures industry, look out for February’s issue of the drinks business.