HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Plastic bag maker and recycler Hilex Poly Co. LLC has purchased part of the North American Flexible Packaging division of Clondalkin Group Holdings Ltd.
Hilex now owns Fortune Plastics Inc., Accutech Plastics Inc. and Direct Plastics Ltd. The acquisition expands both the company's product line and its recycling technologies, according to an April 2 news release.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fortune, based in Old Saybrook, Conn., makes flexible packaging including can liners, bags, foodservice and industrial products. The company has four production sites in the U.S. -- Old Saybrook, Lebanon, Tenn., Orlando, Fla., and Glendale, Ariz. – and makes bags from post-industrial and post-consumer resin, and compostable PLA.
Accutech manufactures mono and coextruded polyethylene film products for industrial applications, as well custom barrier films and modified atmosphere bags. The Coldwater, Ohio,-based company also has a plant in Elyria, Ohio.
Direct, a flexible packaging convertor in Orangeville, Ontario, specializes in pre-press graphic design, flexographic printing, laminating, slitting and bag converting.
Hilex, based in Hartsville, S.C., is North America's largest plastic bag manufacturer and makes a variety of bags and films for grocery, retail and food service markets. The company also runs the largest plastic bag-recycling operation in the U.S. at its North Vernon, Ind., plant.
Hilex was no. 19 in Plastics News' most recent ranking of North American film and sheet manufacturers with estimated sales of $470 million in 2011. Prior to this acquisition, Hilex had nine plants and approximately 1,000 employees in North America.
In late 2012, Hilex was acquired by private equity firm Wind Point Partners of Chicago.
Clondalkin, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, owns several packaging companies in North American and Europe, and claims annual sales of more than $1.15 billion.