Berry buying Clopay film business for $475 million

Griffon Corp. has found a buyer for its Clopay Plastic Products Co. Inc. film making subsidiary, and it's a familiar name.

Berry Global Group Inc. has emerged as the winner for the maker of breathable films, elastic films and laminates, less than three months after Griffon put the division in play.

Berry of Evansville, Ind., is paying $475 million in cash for Clopay Plastic, which includes manufacturing operations in Nashville, Tenn.; Augusta, Ky.; Aschersleben and Dombuhl, Germany; São Paulo and Suzhou, China.

It was only in early September that Griffon said it would explore the sale of Clopay Plastic after indicating it received unsolicited interest in the operations from several interested parties.

"While it's an excellent business, we just don't have the scale that Berry will be able to provide for that business, so this is one of those opportunities where we see this as incredibly opportunistic for us and we think it's a fabulous opportunity for Berry to be able to take the company and bring it to a new level," Griffon CEO Ronald Kramer, said on a Nov. 16 conference call.

Griffon, based in New York, has other businesses including Clopay garage doors, Closetmaid organizing systems and Ames tools. The company also operates Telephonics, an electronic information and communications systems firm.

With the acquisition, Berry takes another big swing in the mergers and acquisition market, in general, and the film market specifically.

The Clopay Plastic deal follows acquisition of AEP Industries Inc., a flexible packaging films maker, in a transaction that closed early this year. That move brought Berry 14 manufacturing sites in both the United States and Canada.

"Clopay broadens our presence as a global supplier to many of the leading consumer and industrial product manufacturers which Berry already supplies with other products," Berry CEO Tom Salmon said on a separate Nov. 16 conference call.

"Clopay will give us new capabilities in the production of technical films where Clopay is a known innovator with patent protected breathable hygiene products," he continued.

Key Clopay markets include diapers, adult incontinence, feminine care, medical gowns, puppy pads, house wrap, protective garments and surgical drapes, Berry said.

"Together will be able to optimize complementary production capacities, share technical resources, reduce material and converting costs and better serve our domestic and international customers from an expanded footprint," Salmon said.

Clopay Plastics had $461 million in sales and $53 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Berry expects to achieve $20 million in cost savings per year.

The deal, which requires regulatory approval, is expected to close early next year.

Salmon, meanwhile, also signaled Berry expects more acquisitions in the future. "Our pipeline continues to be very robust with global opportunities."