Licaplast Industries -- Emballages Inc. didn't have to look too far to expand.
The Montreal-based flexible plastic packaging maker has purchased M'Plast Inc., also located near Montreal and a polyethylene bag maker.
M'Plast was founded more than 30 years ago by Roger Damdjee and specializes in extruding and converting polyethylene film and bags for markets including agriculture, horticulture, industrial, food and animal bedding, Licaplast said.
Located in Lachine, Quebec, M'Plast is only about a 40-minute drive from Licaplast and is located on the Island of Montreal to the south of Montreal city.
The company also makes shrink film, pallet covers and shopping bags.
Licaplast is owned by Charter Oak Equity LP and Fonds de solidarité FTQ, an investment firm funded by residents of Quebec that works to create economic growth by investing in small- and mid-sized companies. Nearly 700,000 people own shares in Fonds de solidarité FTQ.
"Licaplast represents such a close fit with our company values and culture, including technology-oriented solutions, innovative practices and customer satisfaction," Damdjee said in a statement. "The combination of our respective strengths will provide continuity to M'Plast's success story."
M'Plast brings "a complementary set of capabilities that better answer the needs" of Licaplast's growing customer base, Licaplast said in a statement. "The combined company will be a fully integrated extruder, printer and converter serving a broad array of customers in the U.S. and Canada."
Licaplast will more than double production capacity through the acquisition of M'Plast, which has a new extruder and printer on order.
"M'Plast's capabilities and reuse of production waste enhance Licaplast's efforts to develop and manufacture packaging products with a reduced environmental impact. Such an approach is essential to meeting the needs of the customers in any sector," said Jean Wilhelmy, a senior vice president at Fonds de solidarité FTQ, in a statement.