Updated June 20: Tekni-Plex Inc. is purchasing part of Oracle Packaging in a move to enter new markets and expand existing product lines.
Wayne, Pa.-based Tekni-Plex is gaining the health care packaging, performance lidstock, induction seal and specialty laminations businesses of Oracle.
The acquisition includes a 450,000-square-foot plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., with 170 employees.
“They play in health care and food markets, primarily. Those are big markets for us. We love health care. We love food. And they've got a lot of product lines where we are a very small player. For example, foil pouching for pharmaceutical/health care applications. We do very little of that right now, so it was a nearby adjacency for us,” said Tekni-Plex President and CEO Paul Young in an interview.
Tekni-Plex is buying the business from Centre Lane Partners LLC. Oracle also has a specialty industrial and tobacco packaging plant in Louisville, Ky., that is not part of the deal.
Young said the two firms have “similar manufacturing processes. Very little customer overlap, so we get a lot of new customers. And they do have some manufacturing capabilities that we did not have — big extrusion coating lines. So that allows us to do a little more with our business.”
Purchasing Oracle's North Carolina location continues Tekni-Plex's push to become a bigger company.
The company has made nine acquisitions in five years, including a spurt recently, the Young said.
Tekni-Plex, itself, was sold last fall to private equity firm Genstar Capital of San Francisco by private equity firm American Securities.
“Our current owners, Genstar, has fully supported our strategy of making acquisitions. We've done three in the last 90 days,” Young said. “We really wanted to put the pedal down on acquisitions and be able to grow a bit faster.”
Young said Tekni-Plex takes a measured approach toward deal-making.
“We're going to be careful and thoughtful about it, but keep going,” he said. “We've got a sponsor behind us that believes in our strategy.”
With the recently acquired businesses, including Oracle, Tekni-Plex expects annual sales will be around $900 million. Oracle brings about $85 million in annual sales.
Oracle previously solicited interested buyers in 2016, and as part of that process Tekni-Plex showed an interest in the North Carolina facility. After Tekni-Plex was purchased by Genstar, with its more aggressive posture regarding deals, the company started talking with Oracle again about the North Carolina site.
“We approached Oracle and Centre Lane, their private equity fund, probably six months ago and we began a process just on our own with them,” Young said. “They knew we were a serious buyer and one thing led to another.”
