Turning a family business into a top-tier player in the Polish beverage market

Company	Wosana
PE/VC investor	Avallon MBO II
Investment period	2017-2024

12.5

Investment

(in Millions)

4

Return

(MOIC)

2.1

Sales growth

(in 4 years)

1.8

EBITDA growth

(in 4 years)

Wosana, a Polish beverage manufacturer founded in 1991, exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit of the 1990s. After achieving impressive growth, the company's founder decided to sell the business and retire. In 2017, Avallon acquired Wosana with the aim of continuing its development and capitalizing on its potential.

The fund recognized the company's strong financial foundation but realized its product portfolio had to be adjusted to the changing consumer preferences and market demands. Its strategic transformation plan assumed optimizing the product offering, for instance by introducing aseptic drinks, as well as leveraging growth capex for expansion.

Avallon invested heavily in modernizing Wosana’s operations during its holding period. The company now stands as one of Poland's leading soft drink manufacturers, with state-of-the-art production lines, extensive know-how and over 30 years of industry experience.

As a result of its stable development, Wosana attracted the attention of an international strategic player, the Japanese DyDo Group, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Main objectives
of funding

During Avallon’s investment period, Wosana embarked on an investment program of approximately PLN 58m. The main capital expenditure items were:

An aseptic production line capable of producing 25,000 bottles per hour;
A new fully automated high-bay warehouse with automatic racks accommodating +4,000 pallets;
A roller high-bay, flow-through warehouse with a capacity of 1,000 pallets;
A modern production line supplied by a leading manufacturer of bottling and packaging equipment;
A new laboratory;
A last-generation blow molding machine for bottles.

Today, Wosana operates three well-invested production facilities.

What changed in the company after PE/VC investment

Wosana

Gained a professional, goal-oriented management team with extensive expertise in soft drinks. The new CEO and COO brought experience from such companies as Coca-Cola, Danone Group, Żywiec and McCormick. Both managers joined the management board, and its composition was completed with the appointment of Wosana’s CSO and CFO (25 and 18 years at the company, respectively). As such, the board successfully combined the incoming executives’ corporate experience with the entrepreneurial spirit of the two internal promotions.
Created, together with Avallon, a winning market strategy for transforming the company into a top-3 market player in the soft drinks market. Key elements included:
- Developing the aseptic segment by focusing on sugar-free products to capitalize on market trends and growing demand;
- Expanding the large-packaging soft drinks segment by leveraging the extensive client base to develop sales in the less competitive segment driven by convenience;
- Enhancing the children's products portfolio by increasing sales of the “Mama i ja” brand dedicated to young mothers and children, i.a. by introducing value-added products such as aseptic juice.
Optimized the portfolio by removing unpromising, unprofitable and outdated products (such as 6-liter water bottles and boxed juices).

ESG related initiatives and accomplishments