CEO Hans Roelofs to retire effective August 1, 2025
- Refresco’s Supervisory Board has launched succession plan
- Refresco, the global independent beverage solutions provider, announces that Chief Executive Officer Hans Roelofs will retire, effective August 1, 2025.
Hans has had a distinguished career spanning over 18 years at Refresco. Under Hans’s leadership, Refresco successfully expanded, and now operates in 13 countries across 75 manufacturing sites and has a global workforce of over 14,000 employees. Building on its resilient business model, Refresco has enjoyed a journey of substantial value creation, demonstrating the strength and adaptability of its operations.
James Cunningham, Partner of KKR and Chairman of the Refresco Supervisory Board, stated: “I would like to thank Hans for his tremendous career at Refresco and the role he played in driving the Company’s success for nearly two decades. Hans’s passion for and commitment to Refresco is admirable, and he was instrumental to the Company’s ascent to a global leadership position. We are grateful for his leadership in positioning Refresco for continued success in the years to come as we continue to expand the Company’s footprint and execute on our proven strategy to grow alongside our strong and diversified customer base.”
CEO Refresco, Hans Roelofs, commented: “It has been a true privilege and honor to lead Refresco since 2007. Together with our passionate and highly professional team, we have grown the business from a small regional player into the global leader in beverage solutions that we are today. With its blue-chip customer base, Refresco is now stronger and more resilient than ever, and I am proud of what we have achieved. This is the right time for me to step back, confident that the company will continue to grow and thrive on its unique entrepreneurial spirit and the agility of its people.”
Frédéric Stévenin, Managing Partner of PAI and Refresco Supervisory Board Member said: “I would like to thank Hans for his outstanding, dedicated service to Refresco and its stakeholders since he joined the Company in 2007. Under his leadership, Refresco went through a period of unprecedented growth and transformation. We look forward to celebrating Hans’s many amazing accomplishments as his formal retirement date nears.”
Refresco’s Supervisory Board has already launched a succession planning process to identify and appoint the best candidate to lead the Company’s next chapter, and is expecting to announce a new CEO in due course. While this process is ongoing, the Board and the Company are committed to ensuring a smooth leadership transition, with Hans remaining in his role as CEO until his retirement date.
The beverage can industry’s ongoing efforts to move to products free from materials of concern are being boosted by the launch of next generation coatings technology from AkzoNobel – while a new production plant is also being constructed in Spain.
The company’s Packaging Coatings business has just launched the first two products in its new AccelstyleTM range. Designed for the exterior of conventional two-piece aluminum beverage cans, both are free from bisphenols, styrene and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). They follow on from the May 2023 launch of AccelshieldTM 700 – the first BPx-NI* (free of intentionally added bisphenols) internal coating for beverage can ends – which complies with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EU regulations.
At the same time, AkzoNobel is investing EUR 32 million in a new plant at its Vilafranca site, which will produce bisphenol-free coatings for the metal packaging industry in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). The facility will use advanced automation and has been designed according to high eco-efficiency standards, enabling the company to make a step-change in energy and material efficiency. It’s expected to be operational by mid-2025 and will create around 40 jobs.
Commenting on the new facility, Jim Kavanagh, Director of AkzoNobel’s Industrial Coatings business, says it will help the company respond to a strong need from the packaging industry. “The Vilafranca plant will allow us to offer leading-edge products to any customer and country in EMEA, responding to the most stringent bisphenol regulations in force in Europe. The investment is in line with our view that bisphenols are no longer required to create safe food contact coatings for the metal packaging industry.”
He adds that the new Accelstyle products further illustrate the company’s commitment to giving customers the tangible support they need to transition to a new future. “Both new products – Accelstyle 100 and 200 – can be seamlessly introduced into existing production processes, allowing can makers to transition to coatings that are free from certain important materials of concern, while remaining as commercially viable as possible.”
Continues Kavanagh: “The bisphenol-free products we’ve developed have a lower carbon footprint, compared with those we previously supplied. For example, the carbon footprint of the products for can interiors that we’ll manufacture in the new facility will be 26 % lower than our earlier offerings, which were epoxy-based. And it’s important to point out that bisphenol-free metal packaging isn’t just circular, it also meets consumer expectations for more sustainable packaging.”
Accelstyle 100 (a waterborne gloss overprint varnish) has already undergone multiple successful large-scale trials and qualifications with key major European can makers, while Accelstyle 200 (a waterborne matt overprint varnish) is currently undergoing trials to optimise the prototypes for different gloss levels, from “soft touch” high matt to a “grippy feel” mid-matt effect.
AkzoNobel’s approach to the bisphenol transition of metal cans prioritises consumer safety and sustainability with responsible material substitutions, while taking care to limit disruption to the value chain. The company is continuing to work closely with customers to help accelerate the adoption of bisphenol alternatives.
*The BPx-NI designation indicates that bisphenol or bisphenol compounds were not intentionally added to, or used, in the manufacture of the product.
