Charter NEX Films Inc. and Next Generation Films Inc. are merging.
The transaction will see Next Generation Films owner Dave Frecka take a major ownership stake in the combined firm.
Private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners LP and Oak Hill Capital own Charter NEX and have a definitive agreement with Frecka for the deal announced late in the afternoon April 26.
Charter NEX is based in Milton, Wis., and Kathy Bolhous will remain CEO. Frecka will remain CEO of Next Generation, based in Lexington, Ohio,
“By blending our complementary assets, capabilities and expertise, we will create a powerful value proposition for our customers. With these two companies combining forces, there's no limit to what we can do for our customers,” Bolhous said in a statement.
The combined company will have 11 manufacturing sites in Ohio, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Massachusetts with more than 100 extrusion lines
Both companies are film makers, but have “complementary products and focus on different market segments,” according to the statement.
Management will remain in place on both sides of the deal and both brands still will face the market. Each part of the company will operate as “distinct but synchronized divisions.”
“By joining these two market leaders together, we will be able to offer customers a broader scope of capabilities and product solutions, while leveraging our combined scale to offer the most technically-engineered specialty films,” Frecka said in a statement.
Terms of the deal, expected to close in by June, were not disclosed.
Next Generation Films ranks No. 22 on Plastics News' most recent survey of North American film and sheet manufacturers, with estimated sales of $422 million. Charter NEX ranks at No. 23, with estimated sales of $420 million. Combined, they would have ranked No. 11 in PN's 2018 listing.
