Castle Harlan buys Pretium and Novapak
US-based Pretium manufactures blow moulded packing for the food, pharmaceutical and personal care sectors, while Novapak caters for the specialty chemical, personal care, healthcare, food, beverage industries. Keith Harbison, founder and owner of Pretium, will remain as a “significant shareholder” in the combined businesses and will also become a board member, said the company.
Castle Harlan said the combined company, which will carry the Pretium name, will have annual sales of approximately $240 million and 14 manufacturing plants in the United States and Canada serving more than 500 customers. The deal is expected to be completed in Q1 2010.
Little overlap
“There is very little overlap in customers between the two companies, which will enable Pretium to offer a broader range of products and services to an existing customer base,” said Castle Harlan senior managing director William Pruellage. “In addition, we see abundant opportunities for the combined company to expand its customer base geographically, and we believe management is energized to do that.”
Pretium’s President and CEO George Abd said both packaging outfits had previously focused on small to medium volume, custom bottle applications – with much of their growth coming in the PET segment. While Petrium had invested in one-step wide-mouth PET technology, Novapak had concentrated on two-step narrow-neck PET, extrusion blow moulding and injection blow moulding in HDPE and PP, he added.
Processor merger
In other US takeover news, North Star Foods, a meat processor in Minnesota, has merged with food processor Quantum Foods to form Powerhouse Food Company.
The deal comes after North Star’s St Charles plant was destroyed by fire last April with the loss of 250 jobs. The company said it had explored the possibility of re-building its plant or acquiring an existing facility in the St Charles area and was also considering investing in a new food processing research centre. Quantum Foods has a Research and Development Culinary Center at the company’s headquarters in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
“We want to have the facilities, talent and experience to work closely with customers and prospects to formulate and test new protein products," said Quantum CEO and president Edward Bleka. "QuantumFoods believes it is essential to turn food insights into desired products an increased success rates that add significant value to customers,”
Quantum said the deal would extend its market reach, could help secure long-term growth and boost product development.
