Valor 1000: Valgroup expands its scale and reaches the top in plastics and rubber

PET bottles, beverage caps, food-protection films, and other packaging products were gradually added to Valgroup’s portfolio as the company expanded its operations in Brazil and abroad. With net revenue growing by an average of 16.2% a year over the past five years and reaching BRL7.61 billion in 2025, managing the expansion itself became another challenge. Following a series of acquisitions, the manufacturer spent three years integrating businesses that still operated under their own brands, processes, and systems. Completed last year, the reorganization paved the way for a new phase focused on using the company’s expanded scale more efficiently.

The company built its business footprint across several markets. In 2022, the company acquired NuovaPlast, an Italian manufacturer of PET preforms, and 3R, an Italian bottle recycling company. The following year, it acquired the Garda Plast Group, also based in Italy, expanding its preform production capacity. The expansion also extended to the caps segment with the acquisition of Mirvi Brasil. This year, Valgroup announced the acquisition of Innova’s caps operation in Manaus, a deal that strengthens its presence in the beverage market and in Brazil’s North and Northeast regions.

Integrating all these operations took more than combining assets. “We brought together, under one organizational structure, companies that had previously operated independently, each with its own brand, processes, and systems. This generated significant synergies, reduced costs, and increased organizational efficiency,” says Carlo Bergamaschi, CEO of Valgroup. System integration, he adds, also improved the quality of the information available to management and accelerated decision-making.

The impact is evident in the company’s 2025 figures. Valgroup, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026, was founded in Lorena, São Paulo. It posted the industry’s highest net revenue, along with an EBITDA margin of 23.6% and a 22.8% return on average equity. These results put the company at the top of the plastics and rubber sector in the Valor 1000 ranking. Bergamaschi attributes part of the company’s performance to financial discipline and the reinvestment of earnings, which allowed it to sustain capital spending even amid high interest rates and tighter credit. The markets it chose also made a difference. “We decided to focus on food, beverages, personal care, and home care. These are essential consumer segments and are naturally more resilient to economic fluctuations,” he says.

This performance came as the industry as a whole also grew in recent years, although at a slower pace than Valgroup. The value of processed plastic products manufactured in Brazil rose from BRL97.2 billion to BRL165.8 billion over the past four years, a nominal increase of 70.5% over the period, equivalent to an annual average of 14.3%, according to the Brazilian Plastics Industry Association (Abiplast). For 2026, the association forecasts revenue of BRL168 billion and 2% production growth. The industry also expects BRL31.7 billion in investment through 2027 to expand plants, develop sustainable packaging, and advance reverse logistics and recycling technologies.

Against this backdrop, staying competitive depends in part on the ability to expand production while responding to mounting pressure to reduce packaging’s environmental impact. Valgroup is tackling one of the industry’s challenges by bringing plastic back into the production chain. The company currently recycles a volume equivalent to 23.7% of everything it produces and has set a goal of reaching 100% by 2040. According to the company, its recycling initiatives have avoided more than 8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions since 2009. The company’s involvement in recycling, however, long predates today’s corporate environmental agenda. “We began recycling plastic in the 1970s because we needed raw materials, long before the circular economy became a global issue,” Bergamaschi says.

What began as a need to secure supplies became commercially important. Valgroup began investing in a range of recycling technologies as major consumer goods manufacturers increased demand for packaging with more recycled content and a lower carbon footprint. Regulatory pressure, including requirements related to circularity and post-consumer responsibility, has added urgency to this shift.

One recent example was the development, in partnership with Dow and Movimento Circular, of coffee packaging designed for recycling. In partnership with Opem, the company also tested the packaging on existing filling lines without requiring major operational changes. “Innovation drives transformation only when it can adapt to customers’ manufacturing operations, not the other way around,” says Valgroup’s CEO.

This approach of pairing environmental and economic gains extends to energy. Since January 2026, Valgroup’s Brazilian operations have run entirely on renewable sources. Valgroup expanded its holdings in solar power generation assets and increased its own energy generation by 36%. For an energy-intensive industry, self-generation reduces exposure to market fluctuations and makes costs more predictable.

Following the reorganization, Valgroup is seeking higher returns on its investments and further productivity gains. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are among the tools selected to achieve these goals. The company is still in the early stages of adopting AI, however, and has seen progress mainly in process automation and the faster analysis of large volumes of information. It has not disclosed any metrics on the technology’s impact on productivity.

“Making the tools available is relatively simple; changing how people work, integrating AI into processes, and learning to use it consistently require far greater effort,” he says.

Acquisitions remain on the agenda, with the company interested in businesses that would add products to its portfolio or strengthen its position in strategic markets. Valgroup operates in six countries and has made the United States and Europe its priorities, viewing them as more predictable markets with revenue in hard currencies.

Bergamaschi says Brazil’s fiscal outlook is a concern due to its impact on interest rates, the cost of capital, and confidence, but he does not expect the company to reduce its investment in the country in 2027. “We will continue to invest in Brazil, but our capital allocation decisions now reflect a global strategy,” he says.