Diversified manufacturing company Suominen (Helsinki / Finland; http://www.suominen.fi/en/) has sold its flexible packaging business to UK-based private equity firm Lonsdale Capital Partners (London; www.lonsdalepartners.com) and the management of the business for EUR 20m plus an earn-out component of around EUR 1m. The company said the deal is the final step in its transformation into a purely non-wovens business with operations on three continents.

The flexibles business produces high-quality plastic film packaging for industry and the retail sector and has been in the company since 1952. It has operations in Finland, Poland, Sweden, and Russia and exports products to 23 countries.

Suominen says it is global market leader in non-wovens for wipes and employs around 600 people in Europe and the Americas. It recently reported a 19% year-on-year increase in operating profit to EUR 5.5m in the first six months of 2014, on sales up 2.4% at EUR 95.3m.