Gmund Paper is expanding to France: "We are creating a second mainstay"

Created: 01/20/2022, 07:00

By: Gerti Reichl

With the purchase of Cartonnerie Jean FG, we now have a second mainstay in France: Florian Kohler (l.), owner and together with Herbert Eibach (r.) managing director of Gmund Papier.

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The handmade paper factory is expanding and going international: it has bought the Cartonnerie Jean paper mill in France, a family business that, like Gmund, also thinks sustainably.

Gmund - Florian Kohler and France - this is a "liaison" that has lasted since childhood and which the 60-year-old owner of the Gmund handmade paper factory is now deepening in business.

Kohler, who is the fourth generation to run the company founded in 1829 together with Herbert Eibach (50), bought the French paper mill Cartonnerie Jean – a company founded in 1925 and located in Bonnet, 300 kilometers south of Paris.

Gmund Paper buys French factory: "The chemistry was right"

"We had been looking for a long time," says Florian Kohler and reports that the chemistry between the two companies was right from the start.

It was the same passion for papermaking and the same way of running the business as "family-like" as possible that brought the two together and prompted the now elderly French company boss to hand over the company with 20 employees to the people of Gmund.

The company on the Mangfall (135 employees) is thus securing additional significant capacities for the production of ecological cardboard qualities on a 100 percent recycling basis and is continuously expanding its know-how for promising solutions from alternative raw materials, according to a press release.

"A logical step into the future"

Florian Kohler, owner of Gmund Paper

The takeover underscores ambitious goals: "We will be the specialist for particularly ecological and successful packaging applications in Europe," say the managing directors. This is also the reason why they were looking for a manufacturer with an exceptionally environmentally friendly production and many years of experience in the field of colored recycled paper. "This acquisition is the logical step into the future," say Kohler and Eibach, who only won the German Sustainability Award at the end of December with the process for manufacturing hemp paper and thus made a statement for ecological action. "We fight against every piece of plastic," says Kohler. "Because when the plastic is gone, that's a win for the environment and a win for Gmund."

Gmund Paper with a second mainstay in France and 30,000 square meters of expansion space

Did the booming online trade and the demand for packaging play a role in the new orientation?

"Less online trade than the goal of producing extremely sustainable packaging," says Kohler.

That is why tailor-made solutions for sustainable branding have long been created at the development and production site in Gmund.

75 percent of the papers are exported.

Four paper machines instead of the previous two are now available.

Bonnet with 30,000 square meters of expansion space is a second mainstay that makes it independent of the limited location of Gmund.

Gmund Paper shows that, according to Eibach, after a difficult first half of 2021 with low capacity utilization and the associated lack of predictability, things are now getting through the pandemic well. "We improved significantly in the second half of 2021 and were able to significantly increase sales and earnings," reports Eibach. However, the situation on the paper market is still “turbulent”, “also because of the significant increase in raw material prices and the costs of gas and electricity. Here Gmund is not yet in "normal waters" and is planning further savings.

Back to France: The company name was supplemented by the insignia "FG", which stands for France and Germany.

Apart from that, nothing will be changed there that is important for cultural reasons, according to Eibach.

For Kohler it is clear: "We are no longer a purely German company, but are now getting a stronger international image."

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