Flexible packaging converter and printer Flexo Transparent LLC plans to grow with the support of new shareholders.
Two private equity companies have injected capital into Flexo, a Buffalo, N.Y., producer of multi-colored rollstock, bags, pouches and sleeves for food grade and retail consumer products.
Sidereal Capital Group LLC of Chatham, N.J., and Orix Mezzanine & Private Equity of Dallas have acquired an undisclosed equity stake in Flexo. Terms of the deal were not released.
“This new partnership provides us with the capital flexibility as well as analytical support that will allow us to continue our growth initiatives without compromising the service levels that our customers have come to expect,” Flexo President Brian Mabry said in an Oct. 5 news release.
Sidereal “is a boutique investment firm” for proven entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses, Flexo noted in a news release. Sidereal's other major holdings do business in custom chemicals and wood coatings markets.
Orix offers junior debt and equity financing for middle-market companies. Among its diverse holdings is a stake in Peninsula Packaging LLC of Exeter, Calif. Peninsula is a thermoformer with a big stake in sustainability practices. It claims to be the largest single consumer of recycled PET washed bottle flake in North America. In 2012 it fed more than 3 billion 20-ounce water bottles to its in-house sheet extruders. It also runs a solar electricity farm, one of the biggest private installations in North America, that can generate up to 1 megawatt of power. Until recently, Odyssey Investment Partners LLC had been Peninsula's majority shareholder.
Flexo last expanded in 2012 with a 44,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse addition. It focuses on private label business with short to medium production runs. Flexo was established in 1954 and was acquired by Ron Mabry in 1987. Officials declined comment on the equity deal.