Blow molder Altium Packaging LP is expanding through acquisition again, for the first time in more than a year. This time the target is SFB Plastics Inc., an industrial container maker based in Wichita, Kan.
Atlanta-based Altium, a unit of publicly traded Loews Corp., announced the deal Nov. 16. Terms were not disclosed.
SFB Plastics was a privately held company founded in 1970 as a manufacturer of thermoformed freezer spacers. It expanded into rigid packaging in 1976 and has specialized in blow molding high density polyethylene industrial containers for more than 40 years.
SFB Plastics ranked No. 60 in the most recent Plastics News survey of North American blow molders with $21 million in annual sales. It has 60 employees, eight blow molding machines and one thermoforming line at its Wichita location.
Last year SFB Plastics added 14,000 square feet of warehouse space, bringing the total footprint in Wichita to about 105,000 square feet.
In a news release, Patrick Keese, senior vice president and general manager of Altium's consumer-industrial group, said SFB Plastics "has established an outstanding reputation for high-quality packaging solutions with exceptional customer service. We look forward to continuing to build upon the foundation of excellence that they have created."
Altium ranked No. 4 in the latest Plastics News survey, with estimated North American blow molding sales of $1.525 billion. The company has 3,300 employees and 65 rigid plastic packaging plants. It also owns plastics recycler Envision Plastics, which has two locations.
Altium, which was known as Consolidated Container Co. until January 2020, has been a regular in headlines about plastics mergers and acquisitions, although the SFB Plastics deal is its first this year.
In 2019 the company bought three Canadian blow molding businesses in March — Plastique Micron Inc. and its affiliates, IMBC Blowmolding (2014) Inc. and Les Produits de Plastique Action — and then Sonic Plastics Enterprises LLC of Lindon, Utah, in May.