Sydney, Australia – Publicly listed company Pro-Pac Packaging Ltd. is buying Melbourne-based Integrated Packaging Group Pty. Ltd.
Sydney-based Pro-Pac will pay A$117.5 million in cash and give IPG's owners A$60 million in Pro-Pac shares. IPG is 92 percent owned by Melbourne-based private equity investment firm Advent Private Capital Pty. Ltd. The remaining 8 percent is held by IPG senior executives.
An IPG spokesman had said in February that Advent was seeking a buyer. At the time, the spokesman said A$200 million was a “reasonable price.” This week he would not comment on the sale.
A PPG investor presentation on the Australian Stock Exchange's website said the merged companies create “a leader in the growing flexibles manufacturing and distribution segment.”
The merged entity will have 12 manufacturing plants and eight distribution warehouses in Australia and New Zealand. It also has a distribution facility in Canada, after IPG in 2012 bought Amity Agricultural Canada, which now operates as IP Canada Packaging Group Pty. Ltd., in Lethbridge, Alberta.
IPG, established in 1982, produces stretch plastic film for wrapping consumer goods, building products and agricultural products.
Pro-Pac provides flexible and rigid packaging for a wide range of clients and has operated for 24 years. The group has acquired 10 plastics packaging and closures companies since its launch.
Finance newspaper The Australian Financial Review has reported that Raphael Geminder, chair of the publicly listed packaging company Pact Group, is a 51 percent shareholder of Pro-Pac.