Mohawk Reportedly in "Final Stages" of Acquisition by Italy's Fedrigoni

February 16, 2024 - According to an article by the Times Union, an Albany, New York-based news organization, Mohawk Fine Papers, located in Cohoes, NY, is being sold to Verona, Italy-based, Fedrigoni, a manufacturer of specialty papers.

"We are in the final stages of an acquisition to be closed with Fedrigoni," Melissa Stevens, Chief Revenue Officer at Mohawk told the Times Union. She offered few other details, stressing that the deal was very close to being completed, the Times Union reported.

Mohawk and Fedrigoni are not strangers to one another. In September of 2022, Mohawk announced a manufacturing partnership with Fedrigoni. The deal provided Fedrigoni with an avenue to expand its presence in the U.S. market and Mohawk to accelerate its focus on developing increasingly high-performance specialty papers solutions.

Marco Nespolo, CEO of Fedrigoni Group, said at that time, "This is an important step forward to reinforce our geographical penetration in the United States, where we will directly produce and distribute high-value-added papers, leveraging all possible industrial and commercial synergies with our Group."

Mohawk grew its partnership with Fedrigoni when in July of 2023, it became the North American distribution partner for Fedrigoni Specialty Papers. At that time, Fedrigoni again expressed its desire to expand its presence in the U.S. market.

"The alliance with Mohawk will accelerate our geographic expansion in the U.S. in the increasingly promising sector of specialty papers for luxury packaging and other creative and technical solutions," said Ilan Schinazi, Chief Commercial Officer of Fedrigoni Paper. "We are determined to grow our market-leading position by leveraging the reshoring trend in the U.S. and our deep customer partnerships with top luxury brands in Europe, and developing our relationships with U.S. brands."

In what now appears to be a bit of foreshadowing, Mohawk stated in the above-mentioned September 2022 announcement, "The alignment between Mohawk and Fedrigoni carries the potential to formalize a strategic transaction over the next several years."

Mohawk

Mohawk is North America's largest privately-owned manufacturer of fine papers and envelopes which are preferred for commercial and digital printing, photo specialties and high-end direct mail.

Fedrigoni

Fedrigoni is a manufacturer of labels and self-adhesive materials, along with specialty papers for luxury packaging, and art and design papers.

SOURCE: Times Union, Mohawk, and Fedrigoni