Amcor Twinpak-North America Inc. of Montreal has agreed to acquire Stevens Flexible Packaging Inc. of Hagerstown, Md., for an undisclosed amount. After closing the deal soon after the new year, Stevens will take on the name Amcor Stevens, said David Archer, Amcor Twinpak vice president and group general manager of Amcor Flexibles of Bowling Green, Ky.
Stevens, a converter of plastic film for the fresh-cut produce industry, has sales of about $20 million.
In a news release, Amcor Twinpak's president and chief executive officer, James D. Allen, said this acquisition will complement the company's Amcor Flexibles operation.
>From his Toronto office, Archer said Stevens' converting capacity and Amcor's film producing expertise made this an attractive deal.
"They were a quality converter of films and pretty well established in fresh-cut [produce] and other industries," Archer said. "Not only were they in the same markets as we were, but we had opportunities to integrate our film manufacturing capability into their operations."
This latest action is part of the company's three-year, expansion-by-acquisition plan, Archer said.
"We're continually looking for good acquisitions: This hopefully is the first of several," Archer said.
"We'd like to have the business in excess of $300 million [in sales] in two to three years, up from about $50 million right now," he said.
Amcor Twinpak serves the food, beverage, cosmetic, personal-care and other industries.
The company has 18 North American facilities, with manufacturing capability in PET injection and stretch blow molding, sheet extrusion, film coextrusion, converting, printing and decorating.
Amcor Twinpak acquired Amcor Flexibles in 1997, when the flexible packaging operation was Solo Bag, Archer said.
Amcor Twinpak is a subsidiary of Amcor Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia, a packaging and paper producer with sales of about A$6.05 billion (US$3.79 billion) for the fiscal year ended June 30.
