Pretium Packaging and Novapak Announce Plan to Merge
Pretium Packaging LLC, a provider of custom blow molded packaging solutions with
a primary focus in the food, pharmaceutical and personal care markets is
partnering with Castle Harlan Inc., a New York-based buy-out firm, and existing
Pretium management in connection with the merger of Pretium and PVC Container
Corporation, the parent of Novapak Corporation, a portfolio company of Kirtland
Capital, a Cleveland-based buyout firm.
The combined business will generate more than $240 million of blow molded bottle
and injection molded pre-form sales to over 500 customers from 14 manufacturing
facilities in the U.S. and Canada. The new entity will retain the name
Pretium Packaging, be headquartered in Chesterfield, MO, and be managed by the
current Pretium management group together with certain members of the Novapak
team. The founder and current owner of Pretium, Keith Harbison, will be a
significant minority shareholder in the combined business and a member of the
company’s Board of Directors. Pretium is advised by Lazard Middle Market
LLC. and Novapak is advised by Brown Gibbons Lang & Company.
Pretium’s President and CEO George Abd stated, “We are very excited to realize
the opportunity to put these two businesses together. Both Pretium and
Novapak have focused on small to medium volume, custom bottle applications. Much
of both companies’ recent growth has come in PET bottles. The advantage
for both companies’ customers is that while Pretium has invested significantly
in one-step, wide mouth PET technology and assets, Novapak has made significant
investment in two-step, narrow neck PET and pre-form manufacturing. The
combination of these world-class assets and capabilities, will allow the merged
company to offer our customers a full range of one-step and two-step PET
bottles, as well as extrusion blow molding and injection blow molding
alternatives in HDPE and PP. In addition, there is very little overlap
between the two companies’ current customers, enabling the company to now
deliver a broader range of products and services to an already existing customer
base.”
Mr. Abd added “while we are in the midst of a very difficult economic period, we
believe that the combination of these businesses will allow us to offer our
customers, and the market in general, an unparalleled breadth of product
offerings and innovative packaging designs with a strong and shared cultural
focus on Quality, Service and Value. We are also thrilled to be aligned with
Castle Harlan, which has a long history of partnering with management teams to
realize shareholder value through superior customer service.”
Formally, the parent company of Novapak, PVC Container Corporation (OTC: PVCO),
has entered into a definitive merger agreement, providing for the acquisition of
such parent company by an affiliate of Pretium. The parent company of
Novapak is owned by Kirtland Capital Partners, a Cleveland-based buy-out firm,
and other outside investors. The transaction is expected to return
approximately $8,094 per share in cash to holders of common stock in the parent
company of Novapak. The transactions are subject to the satisfaction of
various conditions and are scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2010.