Two investment firms are combining four plastic plant-container companies to form a horticultural powerhouse with 10 facilities that stretch from the Netherlands to the United States.
Lincolnshire Management Inc., a New York-based private equity firm, joined with institutional investor Janivo Holding BV of Zeist, the Netherlands, on March 1 to buy Summit Plastic Co. of Tallmadge, Ohio; Desch Plantpak BV of Waalwijk, the Netherlands, and JänorPot LLC of Mogadore, Ohio. Terms were not disclosed.
Lincolnshire Management already has Nursery Supplies Inc. of Chambersburg, Pa., in its investment portfolio, and plans to put all four plant-container companies under the umbrella of a Lincolnshire holding company. A Lincolnshire spokesman was unavailable for comment.
``It is definitely a large group and fun to see healthy companies come together. It will be an interesting package,'' said Summit Plastic President Norm Belliveau.
Belliveau and Vice President Charles Snyder bought Summit in January 1997. It had been the thermoforming division of Vaughn's Seed Co.
Summit makes polystyrene trays and flats and sells them to growers and distributors.
``I am personally staying on and I am excited about the new venture,'' said Belliveau, who added that Summit's management will not change.
He said the combined firms have potential synergy and will have thermoforming, sheet extrusion, blow molding and injection molding capability.
Summit and Desch currently run JänorPot as a joint venture.
Desch Plantpak specializes in thermoforming and sheet extrusion for the horticultural industry, according to its Web site. It has total capacity of about 66 million pounds of finished products annually. It has production facilities in Waalwijk and Beuningen, the Netherlands; Mundon and Congleton, England; and Bocholt-Suderwick, Germany.
``We complement each other very well. Where Summit and JänorPot end at a top size of a gallon, Nursery Supplies will begin at a gallon and move up to larger containers,'' Belliveau said.
According to a previous Plastics News story, Nursery Supplies received a $20 million investment from American Capital Strategies Ltd., of Bethesda, Md., back in July 2005. At the time, Nursery Supplies said it would use the money to add production machinery.
The company said it employed as many as 500 seasonally at four plants, and that it thermoforms, blow molds and injection molds its products.
Nursery Supplies has plants in Chambersburg; Kissimmee, Fla; Orange, Calif.; and McMinnville, Ore.
Richard Shrode, president and chief executive officer of Nursing Supplies, did not return calls.
Lincolnshire's portfolio of companies ranges from sports racquet maker Prince Sports Inc. to Strategic Materials/Nex Cycle, a nonhazardous waste recovery and reprocessing company.