Private equity firm Kirtland Capital Partners has completed the sale of its portfolio company PVC Container, the parent company of Novapak, to Castle Harlan’s Pretium Packaging.
During its ownership, Kirtland led PVC through a number of strategic and operating initiatives, including a transition to the Novapak name following the integration and rationalization of several of its business divisions, and a go private transaction achieved through a reverse stock split.
Novapak is a major producer of PET, PP, HDPE and in-line fluorinated HDPE containers for specialty chemical, personal care, healthcare, food, beverage, household and automotive applications.
The company is headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey, and operates five ISO 9001:2000 certified plants in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and South Carolina. The business specialises in small to medium volumes of medium to large size plastic bottles requiring rapid commercialisation, customised designs and high package performance.
"Kirtland has been a great partner as we worked to strategically re-position the business while accelerating our growth in faster growing, higher margin products and segments," says Bill Bergen, president and chief executive of Novapak. "They were instrumental in providing our business with resources that were crucial in a number of areas. Kirtland’s operating team helped us to successfully implement an automation program that was a key component in a substantial reduction of our labour costs."
"The PVC management team did an outstanding job of executing the strategic plan and creating meaningful equity value in the company," adds John Nestor, chairman of Kirtland Capital. "PVC represents the last portfolio company to be sold in Kirtland Capital Partners II, which generated a 2.9 times cash-on-cash return on its investments."
