AURELIUS Equity Opportunities & : successfully closes sale of Solidus Solutions

Munich, September 5, 2019 -AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN: DE000A0JK2A8) successfully closed the sale of its subsidiary Solidus Solutions to private equity funds advised by Centerbridge Partners L.P. for an enterprise value of approx. EUR 330 million on today's date. The deal represents the company's largest exit to date, achieving a money multiple of approx. 16x over the 4 years of ownership by AURELIUS. AURELIUS will book a positive earnings effect of more than EUR 100 million on this transaction in the third quarter of 2019.

Successful carve-out and transformation into the global market leader for sustainable packaging solutions made from recycled paper

AURELIUS acquired Solidus Solutions in 2015 as a carve-out from the exchange-listed Smurfit Kappa Group and set it up as an independent company after renaming it. With the aid of operational experts from AURELIUS, a new IT infrastructure and standalone finance and legal structures were established and an extensive investment program totaling EUR 60 million was adopted.

Three strategic add-on acquisitions with tremendous synergy potential greatly expanded the company's geographical footprint and substantially improved its operational efficiency: The acquisitions of Fibor Packaging (2016), Abelan South (2017) and Northern Paper (2018) led to a revenue increase of around EUR 135 million and an expansion of activities in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, elevating Solidus to the status of a pan-European company.

The adjusted EBITDA of EUR 12.5 million at the acquisition date more than quadrupled in the four years of ownership by AURELIUS. Solidus Solutions is today the leading manufacturer of solid board packaging solutions made from recycled paper in Europe. The company produces and sells its products at 15 locations in seven countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Solidus operates ultra-modern production and manufacturing facilities for solid board, printed cardboard and coreboard, which are sold to customers in more than 70 countries across the world.