One plastic film maker is growing while another one is getting out of the business.
Charter Next Generation Inc. is acquiring Polymer Film & Bag Inc., the extrusion portion of Polymer Packaging of Massillon, Ohio.
"PF&B is a perfect fit for CNG and will help us continue to outpace industry growth in the future," CEO Kathy Bolhous of Charter Next Generation said in a statement.
Charter Next Generation said Polymer Film & Bag brings some "unique capabilities" that will allow the company to "expand into new, attractive vertical markets."
"Polymer Film & Bag is a Safe Quality Food (SQF) manufacturing company serving industrial and foodservice markets. Its state-of-the-art coextrusion lines offer superior quality, environmentally responsible films featuring a stronger but thinner design that surpass the properties of thicker conventional films," Charter Next Generation said.
Larry Lanham owns Polymer Packaging and said he had a couple of key constituents in mind while making the deal.
"As I considered divesting this business, my primary concern was to find the best possible home for my employees while providing the best possible care for our customers," Lanham said in a statement. "I immediately thought of CNG, the preeminent supplier in this marketplace, with a reputation for delivering both."
It was less than three years ago that Lanham unveiled plans to enter the extrusion business after more than a decade of absence.
In an October 2019 Plastics News story, the company said it was spending more than $10 million on new equipment and had plans to start film production with a pair of three-layer, coextrusion lines made by Windmöller & Hölscher.
That move came after the company had been discussing growth strategies in 2018 when a customer asked if the firm would consider manufacturing film again. Polymer Packaging had previously entered the business in 2007 but ran into headwinds caused by the 2008 economic crisis.
This is the second divestiture for Polymer Packaging in just a matter of days.
Dazpak Flexible Packaging, owned by private equity firm HIG Capital, acquired the Inno-lok division of Polymer Packaging, the company said in early August. HIG also made a high-profile acquisition on Aug. 12 when Avient Corp. announced that an affiliate of the private equity group would pay $950 million for Avient's distribution business.
That deal was part of an overall strategy that also added Atlapac Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, to allow Dazpak to strengthen its Midwest presence and move beyond its core markets in the West.
Charter Next Generation, based in Milton, Wis., has grown in recent years to become the No. 10 film and sheet production in North America with estimated sales of $1 billion, according to an annual list compiled by Plastics News.