Industrial packaging manufacturer Greif Inc. of Delaware, Ohio, has entered the flexible intermediate bulk container segment by acquiring Storsack Holding GmbH, a German specialty packaging group.
Deb Strohmaier, Grief's vice president of communications, said in a Feb. 25 telephone interview that the deal closed Feb. 15. She would not disclose terms.
“It's something that is a product extension for us,” Strohmaier said of the acquisition. She would not comment further.
Greif's “focus on industrial packaging will secure the further growth pattern and an excellent future” for Storsack, according to a news release from Lincoln International LLC, an investment banking firm in Chicago that advised Viernheim, Germany-based Storsack.
According to the release, Storsack's 23 subsidiaries employ 3,000 at 18 production facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. Storsack designs and makes one-, two-, and four-loop “big bags,” for customers in the chemical, fertilizer, raw materials, and food industries.
The company, founded in 1970 as International Polysacks GmbH, claims 4,000 customers in 79 countries and sales in 2009 of 122 million euros ($165 million).
According to its Web site, Storsack's North American holdings are an 85,000-square-foot bag factory in Matehuala, Mexico, operated by its Mulox de México DA de CV subsidiary, that makes about 15,000 bags weekly; and its Storsack Inc. subsidiary's bag plant, customer service center and warehouse in Houston and warehouse in Chico, Calif.
Storsack established its North American presence in 2003 by acquiring Mulox and Ecotainer Inc.
Storsack officials were unavailable for comment.
On Feb. 24, Greif reported profit of $37.6 million on sales of $709.7 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared with profit of $21.7 million on sales of $666.3 million for the year-ago period.
For the 2009 fiscal year, the company reported profit of $194 million on sales of $2.8 billion, compared with profit of $267 million on sales of $3.8 billion in fiscal 2008.
Founded in 1877 in Cleveland, the firm manufactures plastic, steel, and paper corrugated and multiwall containers for various industries. Greif also produces containerboard and manages timberland in the United States. It employs 8,200 at 200 locations in 45 countries.
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