Zeus completes €40m acquisition strategy with Austrian buy

Brian O'Sullivan: "Zeus remains on track to become the largest independent packaging distribution business in Europe."

Irish-owned Zeus Packaging has announced the acquisition of Austrian-based food packaging business, Petruzalek.

Founded by Brian O'Sullivan from Fermoy in 1998, Zeus has 38 offices worldwide, including Ireland, UK, Germany, Spain, Poland, New Zealand, Canada, China and Australia. In 2018, Zeus announced a €27 million investment in new premises in Dublin and the UK.

Petruzalek is the seventh business to be integrated into Zeus firm in the past 18 months. It brings the number employed by Zeus from 450 people across 14 countries to 670 people across 26 countries. The group’s turnover has grown substantially over the past three years, reaching €208m in 2020 and expected to reach €280m for 2021.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum from Italian investment holding company, Italmobiliare, completes a three-year €40 million acquisition strategy for Zeus. 

“In 2020, despite the pandemic, Zeus reached a milestone with revenues exceeding €200 million," Mr O'Sullivan said. "With today’s announcement, Zeus remains on track to become the largest independent packaging distribution business in Europe. The acquisition of Petruzalek not only further builds on our scale, but strengthens our operating platform across Europe.”

Zeus CEO Keith Ockenden said the acquisition is the largest in its strategic expansion. "The purchase of Petruzalek significantly extends our reach into new markets, brings complementary diversification to our product range and further enhances our client network."

“Petruzalek’s product range utilises low environmental impact renewable, recyclable and compostable materials, enabling us to further deepen our focus on sustainability in 2021.”