A life of business

Fernando Gabel, All4Labels’ former president for Latin America, Central Europe and global M&A, left the international converting group in 2025 to set up Vita Negotialis, a strategic advisory firm focused on supporting entrepreneurs, business families and multinational companies across Latin America.

With more than 15 years’ experience in senior leadership roles at Brazilian converter Baumgarten and All4Labels, and extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, Gabel believes he is well-placed to advise label converters and other companies on a variety of issues. These include operating in or entering the Latin American market, implementing governance in family-run businesses, succession planning and preparing companies for sale or acquisitions.

Baumgarten/All4Labels

Gabel, who joined in 2009, was a key figure in the creation of All4Labels through the 2016 merger of Baumgarten with German converters Rako and X-Label, before spearheading the group’s rapid expansion in Latin America via a spate of acquisitions. Later, he took on a similar brief for All4Labels in Central Europe and oversaw the group’s global M&A activity. During Gabel’s time at the company, it grew into a label and packaging behemoth with more than 50 production facilities, producing over 80 billion labels annually and generating annual revenue of around 1 billion USD.

Prior to the foundation of All4Labels, Gabel had led Baumgarten’s acquisitions of Autopack in Argentina and Etiquetas Rodak in Mexico in 2014. As president for Latin America at All4Labels, he was responsible for a number of additional M&A activities, with the group acquiring no fewer than 10 converters in Brazil over just two years, in 2022 and 2023. One of these, Flexo Print, included a facility in Paraguay. In 2023, the acquisition of AMF Etiquetas enabled All4Labels to establish its first presence in Chile.

Over the course of his career, Gabel has participated in more than 25 M&A transactions in Latin America and Europe. He cites helping to transform Baumgarten, alongside Ronaldo Baumgarten Jr, from a local company into a global business as his proudest professional achievement. The Brazilian converter, like Rako and X-Label prior to the formation of All4Labels, was a family-run business at the time of the merger.

“Latin America is a market that has its peculiarities and its ups and downs, but overall the trend is towards growth. You have to take a long-term approach”

After leaving All4Labels, Gabel took the opportunity to study before embarking on his next venture. He enrolled in a course at Harvard Business School aimed at corporate directors and board members, spent two weeks visiting technology and AI companies in Silicon Valley, and undertook board-member training and AI courses in São Paulo.

‘I wanted to reinvent myself, because the new venture is completely different,’ explains Gabel. ‘It was an amazing experience to be a student again. Studying at Harvard Business School was a huge learning opportunity.

‘And because the world is changing so fast thanks to AI, I wanted to spend some time immersing myself in that technology and trying to understand how it was affecting business. I knew it could be valuable to family-run businesses that are not always able to keep up with these developments.’

Vita Negotialis

Vita Negotialis is Latin for ‘A life of business’. ‘I have spent my life in business, and my family has an industrial background as well,’ he explains. The consultancy focuses on four ‘pillars’, says Gabel. ‘The first is the Latin American market – supporting companies who want to grow their presence here or who want to move into this market for the first time. The second is board-level assistance in implementing governance at family-run businesses. Third is a focus on M&A: helping companies prepare for sales or acquisitions. And the fourth is to act as a family advisor and to help manage the transition between different generations.’

A native of Brazil who is based in the southern state of Santa Catarina, Gabel has extensive knowledge of the Latin American market. ‘It can be a challenging region,’ he says. ‘It’s a huge market, but there can be issues with political and economic instability. I’m working with both companies that already have a presence in the region and want to improve or expand their business, and those looking to enter Latin America for the first time.

‘I can advise on acquisition targets and what you need to pay attention to when running a business in Latin America, the specifics of culture, workforce, inflation, currencies, unions and other things. It is a market with its peculiarities and ups and downs, but overall, the trend is towards growth. You have to take a long-term approach.’

Implementing governance and assisting with the professionalization of a family-run business, Vita Negotialis’ second pillar, are areas in which Gabel has extensive experience. It also feeds into the other two areas of the consultancy’s focus: preparing companies for mergers or acquisitions and acting as a family advisor for succession planning.

‘You have to prepare your company to be sold, rather than decide you want to sell,’ he says. ‘A business needs governance, management and continuity. You never know what might happen in the future, so succession planning is important.

“The label market is growing, and it still isn’t very consolidated”

‘I once worked with a company in Mexico. The owner was almost 80 and wanted to sell. He ran the business and was doing almost everything. He was directly responsible for 70 percent of the turnover. That kind of company is hard to sell, because if he isn’t there, it’s not the same company.

‘Putting an M&A strategy in place for your business, whatever your plans currently are, is a sensible move. The M&A process can take two or three years. For family businesses in particular, professionalization is often required to prepare for a sale.

‘You must respect the local culture. Everywhere is different. Every company has its own problems. If you acquire a company that you should not acquire, you are paying to have more problems.’

After a sale, too, integration of the business is crucial, says Gabel. ‘There needs to be a clear idea of how it will be run, what the reporting lines are, and how management will be integrated.’

A fifth area of focus for Vita Negotialis is currently in development. Having immersed himself in AI after completing a course in the subject, Gabel is a firm believer in its potential as a management tool for label converters. ‘Many family-run, mid-sized label converters are not doing sophisticated data collection and analysis,’ he says. ‘AI tools can help with data management.’

Prior to working in the label industry, Gabel spent more than two decades in the ceramics, metal-mechanical and truck trailer sectors. He is consulting for companies in these sectors, as well as for label converters, with the latter accounting for roughly half of his work since founding his consultancy in November 2025. 

Latin American market

Gabel says he is always optimistic about the Latin American label market. ‘There are always opportunities,’ he emphasizes. ‘Mexico and Brazil are the two biggest markets that most companies are focused on. After them, Colombia has great potential. Central America is strong in certain sectors. Paraguay is booming thanks to low taxes and strong industrial growth. 

‘Argentina and Chile have been struggling a little because they have large wine label markets and wine consumption has been declining.

‘Brazil has had some economic challenges in recent years. High interest rates don’t help investment. But it is a strong country, and lots of companies are investing here despite the challenges. If you pay attention to what you are doing, you can be successful. The label market is growing, and it still isn’t very consolidated.’