Mullingar-based Bevcraft Group said today it has completed a merger deal with Heidrun Tapperi, a craft can business in Norway.
Bevcraft said the Heidrun deal is a major milestone in the growth of the business and will see the enlarged group emerge as the biggest craft can business in Ireland, the UK and Norway with exports to more than a dozen other countries.
The group now employs more than 40 people across its bases in Sandefjord in Norway, Breda in The Netherlands, Mullingar, St Helens, Peterborough, Basingstoke and Leeds/Bradford in the UK.
It works with over 400 beverage producers across Europe.
Bevcraft Group was founded in Mullingar by Ciarán Gorman and Darren Fenton in 2016 and it now handles about 100 million cans a year across its six locations in Ireland, the UK and The Netherlands.
It provides a range of services including mobile contract canning, can distribution, can decoration, testing, servicing, and training.
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.
"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," Mr Gorman said.
"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," he added.
Darren Fenton, Bevcraft Group COO, said that 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," Mr Fenton said.
"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," he said.
"Unquestionably they will enhance the technical resources of the overall group and add to the overall knowledge base of the business," he added.
