Dunapack to add 350 employees, US$80M revenue with Stora Enso Germany purchase

GERMANY – Austria’s Dunapack Packaging has reached a deal with Stora Enso to acquire its corrugated packaging businesses in Germany, including Gaster Wellpappe, Wellpappe Sausenheim, and PTI, which together employ 350 people and recorded €74 million (approximately US$80 million) in revenue in 2025.

The agreement covers sites in south-west Germany and still requires merger approval, with completion expected during 2026. 

Dunapack Packaging is part of the Prinzhorn Group, a family-owned business based in Vienna with more than 10,000 employees across 16 countries and annual revenue of €2.4 billion (approximately US$2.6 billion).

Strategic Fit for Dunapack

Max Hölbl, chairman of Dunapack Packaging, explained that the company is excited to serve existing and new customers with the best of its proven service quality by benefiting from its integrated business model with the Hamburger Containerboard division. 

He noted that the expertise of new colleagues will be a great addition, and the company looks forward to welcoming them to the group.

The Prinzhorn Group operates through three divisions: Dunapack Packaging (corrugated packaging), Hamburger Containerboard (corrugated case materials), and Hamburger Recycling (collection and trade of secondary raw materials). 

The acquisition strengthens Dunapack’s geographical footprint in Germany while increasing the group’s paper integration rate, the proportion of containerboard produced that is converted into finished packaging within the same corporate family.

A European Corrugated Market in Consolidation

The corrugated packaging market in Europe has seen sustained demand from e-commerce, food delivery, and industrial shipping, but margin pressure from rising energy and raw material costs has driven consolidation. 

Larger players with integrated containerboard mills (like Prinzhorn) have cost advantages over non-integrated converters, because they can supply their own box plants with containerboard at transfer prices rather than market rates.

Gerald Prinzhorn, CEO of the Prinzhorn Group, commented that the transaction marks a further important step in the growth strategy of Dunapack Packaging, aiming to increase its geographical footprint and will additionally foster the group’s paper integration rate.

What Stora Enso Exits

Stora Enso, a Finnish pulp and paper giant, has been divesting non-core assets to focus on renewable packaging, building products, and biomaterials innovations. 

The sale of these German corrugated sites aligns with that strategy, allowing Stora Enso to concentrate on higher-margin segments such as carton board (including the Performa Lumi GC1 folding boxboard launched in January) and paper-based barriers.

When Integration Drives Advantage

A box maker that buys its containerboard on the open market competes on price. One that owns the mill that makes its containerboard competes on cost. Dunapack’s acquisition of Stora Enso’s German sites is not just about revenue, it is about integration.

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