Fisher buys Packaging Products, adding to production

Flexible packaging maker Fisher Container Holdings LLC is adding two new locations through the acquisition of Packaging Products Corp. LLC.

Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based Fisher sees the deal that includes sites in Mission, Kan., and Rome, Ga., as being complementary to its existing business of manufacturing "primarily for cleanroom and healthcare, food and industrial end markets." That work includes printing and converting of flexible films, bags and pouches.

PPC, based in Mission, prints and converts films, bags and pouches, primarily used as food packaging.

Fisher CEO Kevin Keneally, in a statement, called his company and PPC "two highly complementary businesses with rich legacies."

"We expect the combination of these companies will enable us to enhance the value and service we provide to our customers," Keneally said.

PPC dates to 1968 and focuses on "emerging technologies in film substrates, ink systems and controlled atmosphere packaging," according to the company's website. In 2006, Belmont Plaza Management Group made a minority investment in PPC as part of a management buyout of the company, the investment firm's website indicates.

It was just in February that Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and members of company management purchased 50-year-old Fisher Container from founder Don Fisher. Keneally, at the time, was installed as CEO. And the new owners signaled plans for growth.

"PPC enhances Fisher's position in the food market with its unique set of capabilities that has translated into favorable position with blue chip and innovative food manufacturers," said Eric Kanter, managing director of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, in a statement.

Another Morgan Stanley Capital Partners managing director, Mark Bye, said combining the two operations will help create even more growth.

"We see tremendous value and growth potential from this partnership and will continue to look for opportunities to add new, innovative products and services," he said in a statement.

Keneally becomes CEO of the combined company, taking over for PPC's Bill Mackin, who led that firm since 2014.