With a history dating back centuries, the perfume industry has undergone plenty of change. Yet, one element remains steady: profitability. According to Mordor Intelligence, the market will cross $112bn by 2030, growing at nearly 8% CAGR.
Among the many verticals, one niche is cosmetic perfumery glass bottle packaging, a strategically interesting sub-sector deeply impacted by evolving consumer values. Valued at $2.6bn, the market is projected to grow past $3bn by 2030, Mordor reports.
It is here that high-end glass bottle and jar manufacturer Verescence sits – the first investment made by pan-European private equity firm Stirling Square Capital Partners’s (Stirling Square) Fourth Fund back in 2019.
Verescence is positioned at the convergence of three interesting trends, explains Stirling Square Partner Julien Horreard: “The digitalisation of traditional manufacturing, the acceleration of the circular economy, and the rising demand for sustainable luxury.”
At acquisition, Verescence was already a global player, with a 30% market share, long-standing blue-chip clients, and a production footprint spanning Europe and North America. These “strong fundamentals” are critical in a sector with high barriers to entry including established brand relationships and customer loyalty as well as specialised production and manufacturing capabilities, added Horreard.
The opportunity – and the challenge – was to transform a traditionally carbon-intensive manufacturer into a resilient, sustainable leader fit for the low-carbon economy.
The essentials
The Stirling Square investment team worked alongside CEO Thomas Riou and MD Hélène Marchand to implement a transformation plan structured around five key areas: industrial optimisation, digitalisation, international expansion, organisational alignment, and sustainability.
The leadership team, particularly in North America, was strengthened, and a focus on unified culture was implemented across the group to improve alignment, efficiency, and decision-making which helped navigate external disruption, including Covid-19, client destocking, and inflation.
A €100m capex programme followed, with digital transformation being a key feature. Automation expanded across the group with AI-driven quality controls, robotic packaging, and advanced vision systems.
In parallel, decoration capabilities in Europe and North America were upgraded with acid-etching, gluing, and 3D printing lines – all aimed at improving quality, throughput, and scalability.
Stirling Square’s Chief Digitalisation Officer Ahmed Khamassi supported the management team in developing a proprietary AI model to improve defect detection across Verescence’s production lines, increasing accuracy from 78% to 96%. This led to higher production yields, fewer false rejects and customer claims, and greater consistency – especially during late-stage decoration, where errors are most costly. To support this digital shift, Verescence added a dedicated data scientist.
“This model is currently being scaled across facilities, with further applications underway in predictive maintenance and energy optimisation,” says Horreard.
The company also upgraded its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to boost data analytics and operational visibility across regions, while also adding a new production scheduling system to align output more closely with customer demand.
Building a base
International expansion was another strategic lever deployed by the investment team in their value creation plan.
In 2021, Verescence acquired South Korean manufacturer PacificGlas, establishing its first production footprint in Asia and securing a 10-year exclusive supply agreement with AmorePacific, one of the region’s largest beauty players.
The deal expanded access to the $92bn+ Asian skincare market and enabled local delivery for European clients seeking regional diversification.
Underpinning the entire operation was sustainability – particularly around resource use, circularity, and climate action. Core furnaces across major sites, for instance, were rebuilt to boost energy efficiency and reduce emissions.
The company shifted from using 2% recycled glass to having the capacity to produce bottles with 100% recycled content.
Verescence also launched a proprietary Eco-Design platform, which allowed consumers to “make decisions informed by sustainability, not just aesthetics and cost,” says Pierre Klemas, Stirling Square’s Chief Sustainability Officer.
A science-based decarbonisation roadmap, aiming for a 64% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions and a 38% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2034 (baseline 2019) was also implemented which has now been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
The efforts have been independently recognised, with EcoVadis Platinum status and CDP scores of A for climate and A- for water.
Finishing notes
The business – which counts Hermes, LVMH, and L’Oreal amongst its client base – now employs 2,500 people globally, alongside operating seven factories across France, Spain, North America, and South Korea.
During Stirling Square’s six-year hold period, Verescence’s revenues increased by 40% to €421m, while EBITDA more than tripled to over €80m. This was supported by €25m in recurring cost savings and productivity gains as a result of the value creation undertaken.
In December 2024, Stirling Square signed a definitive agreement to sell Verescence to a consortium led by Portuguese family offices Movendo Capital and Draycott. The transaction closed in May 2025.
