• Australia-based Brambles Ltd. divested its IFCO brand of reusable plastic containers for $2.51 billion to focus on its CHEP reusable pallet business. The buyers were German private equity firm Triton and Luxinva, an investment firm owned by the Abu Dhabi government.
IFCO is a major global supplier of reusable packaging solutions for fresh foods, including fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood and eggs, shipped from suppliers to grocery stores.
• Stamford, Conn.-based private equity firm Olympus Partners made two deals in the first half of 2019 — including buying the largest rotational molder in North America, Tank Holding Corp., for the second time in decade, after selling it to another private equity firm, Leonard Green & Partners LP, in 2012.
Tank Holding generates annual sales of $250 million, from 22 factories, according to Plastics News' most recent ranking of rotational molders.
Just a few weeks before the Tank Holding deal, Olympus announced it was buying the plastics packaging division from London-based DS Smith plc. That included flexible plastics, rigid plastics and foam products. DS Smith retained its paper packaging operations.
• French automotive supplier Novares Group SA made two deals in the first half of 2019 — in the United States and Europe.
In February, Novares bought Miniature Precision Components Inc., an injection and blow molder of under-the-hood parts and assemblies for vehicle powertrains. MPC, sold by the Brost family, will operate as a business unit under the Novares name.
Novares CEO Pierre Boulet said the deal doubles the size of the French company's powertrain business and balances sales in that market evenly between Europe and the United States.
Then just two months later, Novares acquired a minority stake in Belgian flexible electronics firm Quad Industries, a maker of printed electronics that has moved into printed, flexible sensors to create intelligent systems for automotive interiors. The two companies had worked together for about a year before Novares bought its stake.
• Newell Brands Inc. continued to divest business units, as Newell officials streamline operations and cut costs. This time it sold the Process Solutions business to New York-based private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners, expected to bring in $500 million after taxes.
Process Solutions produces plastic, nylon, monofilament and zinc products for the health care, consumer and industrial markets as well as governmental agencies, including copper-plated zinc penny blanks for the U.S. Mint. Plastics-related businesses incorporated in the deal included the plastics solutions unit, Lifoam-brand coolers and ice packs and consumer tabletop goods.
• Springboard Manufacturing, doing business legally as Kruger Plastic Products LLC, purchased majority ownership of Northern California Injection Molding LLC and El Dorado Molds LLC, both in Rancho Cordova, Calif., from founder and machinist Bob Brewer.
Springboard also built a new plant in Greensboro, N.C. HC Private Investments, a Chicago investment firm, owns Springboard Manufacturing, which targets medical device molding.
• The family-owned Jabat Inc. was acquired by Mac Plastics Manufacturing Inc., a business formed by two Jabat employees and partners to keep the custom extruding and injection molding operation, and its 37 jobs, in Olney, Ill. The partners dug deep to buy Jabat, since another prospective buyer had talked about relocating production to Ohio.
• Custom Profile of Walker, Mich., in partnership with Mosaic Capital Partners LLC, has purchased all of the company's equity from private equity owners Blackford Capital LLC to begin operating as a 100 percent employee-owned company through an employee stock ownership plan.
In 2012, founder Sam Nichols had sold Custom Profile to Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Blackford Capital for an undisclosed amount. The company extrudes plastic components for the office furniture, appliance, medical, point-of-purchase and recreational vehicle industries.
• At least one deal involved playtime — playground equipment, that is. PennSpring Capital LLC, a private equity firm in Lancaster, Pa., acquired playground supplier Swing Kingdom and Atlas Molding LLC, a rotational molder in nearby Leola, Pa., that rotomolds slides and other components for Swing Kingdom and other regional playground makers. The seller, Amish businessman Amos Glick, will remain president and owns a stake in both companies.