Five packaging companies in North America and Europe intend to combine to operate as one firm under the banner of Exopack Holdings Sarl, a new Luxembourg company.
The combined business will have 63 plants, 8,650 employees and aggregate revenues of more than USD2.5bn, making it the sixth-largest plastics packaging company in the world.
Joining Exopack, a US-based producer of flexible paper and plastic packaging and advanced coatings, will be four companies based in Europe – Britton Group, a flexible plastic packaging manufacturer; PACCOR, the second-largest rigid plastic packaging company in Europe; Kobusch, a producer of tailor-made flexible and rigid packaging systems; and Paragon Print & Packaging, a provider of private label packaging solutions in the UK.
All five packaging companies are affiliated portfolio companies of Sun Capital Partners. The brand names of the five businesses would remain in use by the combined company.
Jack Knott will serve in the capacity of chief executive officer. Mike Alger will serve in the capacity of the company’s chief financial officer; Dieter Bergner will be CEO of PACCOR (Global Rigid business); and Michael Cronin joins the team as CEO of the Global Flexibles business.
“This combination represents a natural next step in a process that began eight years ago to create a global packaging company with a solid foundation for future growth,” says Marc Leder, co-chief executive of Sun Capital Partners. “Building on past collaborations between the companies, the combination will immediately achieve synergies and allow the combined company to more effectively pursue global business.”
“By joining together to form this new entity, we will be better able to serve the needs of our global customers through a manufacturing base spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East and China that enhances our ability to deliver outstanding service,” says Knott. “The larger scale will enable us to accelerate the development and commercialisation of new and differentiated products that offer our customers a competitive advantage.”
The combination is subject to certain notice and contractual restrictions, and in particular requires the consent of certain lenders to the packaging companies. It is anticipated that all required consents will be obtained within two weeks.
