Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
June 10, 2021 03:49 PM

Soteria Flexibles makes second acquisition with film extruder Redi-Bag

Don Loepp
Editor
Plastics News Editor
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Colonial Bag Corp.

    Soteria Flexibles Holdings has purchased Redi-Bag Inc., a Tukwila, Wash.-based blown film extruder and converter.

    The deal is the second acquisition of a custom film specialist for Soteria Flexibles, a portfolio company owned by French private equity firm Ardian.

    Soteria Flexibles was established in 2019 in conjunction with Ardian's investment in Colonial Bag Corp., a Carol Stream, Ill.-based custom film extruder.

    "With Redi-Bag, we saw an immediate fit with Colonial," Bradley Herbolsheimer, CEO of Soteria Flexibles, said in a telephone interview. "It has one facility with great bones and a lot of room for expansion outside Seattle."

    Herbolsheimer said Redi-Bag's great customer relations and management team headed by President Athos Ikonomou stood out during the acquisition process.

    "Redi-Bag is known for high quality and high service," Herbolsheimer said.

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mesirow Financial of Chicago acted as exclusive financial adviser to Redi-Bag. The seller was Traverse Pointe Partners LLC, a Chicago-based investment firm that has owned Redi-Bag since June 2017.

    Redi-Bag makes low density polyethylene film and protective packaging, primarily for the food packaging market in the Pacific Northwest. The company was founded in 1992 by Jim and Dan Ulrich. Key markets include seafood and produce packaging.

     

    Starting with Colonial

    Ardian, which also owns Novi, Mich.-based injection molder Revere Plastics Systems Inc., made its first move in film packaging in September 2019 when it bought Colonial Bag.

    Just a few months later, when much of the global economy was hit by shutdowns and supply chain issues from the COVID-19 pandemic, Colonial Bag stayed open, Herbolsheimer said.

    "Because 60 percent of what Colonial makes was health care-related products, we saw really strong demand throughout the pandemic. We were able to weather the storm and expand into other regions, because our products were in high demand," Herbolsheimer said.

    In fact, Colonial Bag expanded during the pandemic, with a multimillion-dollar investment that included commissioning a new extrusion line. Colonial Bag now has 17 extruders and infrastructure ready to add three more, he said.

    "Throughout the pandemic, we saw that we were oversubscribed in our demand. We needed to add capacity," Herbolsheimer said. "We are on the pathway to double our extrusion output."

    All of Colonial Bag's extrusion lines are tailored to make custom products, he said.

    In late 2020, Soteria Flexibles was introduced to Redi-Bag.

    "There were some markets that we both touched. We saw a lot of similarities; [we] both make custom products. We saw real immediate fit," Herbolsheimer said.

    Redi-Bag has about half as many extruders as Colonial Bag. Herbolsheimer declined to provide sales or employment numbers for either company.

    Both Colonial Bag and Redi-Bag will continue to operate under their existing names.

    Vincent Fandozzi, managing director and head of North American direct buyouts at Ardian, said that while the flexible packaging sector has seen a lot of consolidation, there's still room for a company like Soteria Flexibles.

    "We have a lot of history in the flexibles around plastics. We know there's a lot of consolidation going on. That's fine," Fandozzi said. "[Big companies] are great at serving the large companies with large volumes. What we recognize is there is a need to be able to serve smaller customers and also large customers with smaller SKUs. That piece was missing. We see that need."

    Herbolsheimer said Soteria Flexibles will keep its focus on smaller volumes of highly customized products, but with the scale that comes from a larger company.

    "Many of our customers are national but look to produce regionally," Fandozzi said.

    Soteria Flexibles is still in acquisition mode, the officials said.

    "We as a leadership team, an investment team, we don't have any defined exit plans. We really feel like our journey has just begun," Fandozzi said.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Tennessee-based insulation maker adding equipment, jobs
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Ohio PET jar maker closes, auctioning off equipment
    2
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    3
    Nova declares force majeure for PE resin at second Ontario site
    4
    Preventing pellet pollution focus of expanded Operation Clean Sweep, congressional push
    5
    PS resin prices continue their climb
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified