A Mississippi company, which already is expanding its own facility’s footprint, is acquiring a New York company in a flexible packaging deal.
Summit Plastics Inc. is buying Clear View Bag Co. Inc. of Albany, N.Y., from brothers Todd Romer and Trent Romer through a deal that not only expands the company’s geographic presence but also broadens its product line.
“We are confident that the talented team at Clear View will unlock exciting growth potential for the combined business," Summit CEO Tom Nathanson said in a statement.
Summit, owned by LongueVue Capital of New Orleans and management, pointed to Clear View’s use of recycled content and recycling efforts as another reason the private equity firm was interested in making the deal.
LongueVue invested in the Summit, Miss.-based firm in January 2021. Nathanson had purchased Summit in 2015.
Clear View’s markets include food and beverage, health care and medical, agriculture, industrial and retail.
“With this complementary acquisition, Summit is broadening its geographic presence, expanding its product offerings and creating a vertically integrated platform better able to serve customers across the packaging value chain,” Summit said in a statement.
Summit makes low and linear low density polyethylene blown film and bags. Resins used by Clear View include LDPE, high density PE and polypropylene.
The Romers are the grandsons of founder Don Strevell and sons of Bill Romer, owner of the company from 1967 to 2003, according to the company’s website. The firm, founded in 1961 also goes by Clear View Packaging.
“We were impressed by the organization Tom and the LVC team have built at Summit, and we are confident that the addition of our manufacturing capabilities coupled with a shared commitment to customer service will create a market leading packaging platform,” Clear View Bag President Todd Romer said in a statement.
LongueVue Capital bought into Summit about a year ago, providing additional capital for the company that had experience rapid growth since Nathanson’s purchase. Summit Plastics, at that time, had a single facility with 98,000 square feet about 115 miles north of New Orleans.
Summit later unveiled plans to spend $5.4 million on an expansion project that’s slated to create 25 new jobs. The custom plastic film and sheet products, at that time, had more than 110 workers, up from 52 workers in 2015 when Nathanson purchased the company.
The expansion project is adding 12,000 square feet to allow for the installation of three blown film lines, including at least one that will be a multilayer line, the Mississippi Development Authority has said.
LongueVue Capital’s activity in plastics packaging comes after Paul Ebbert joined the investment firm as an operating partner in September 2020. Ebbert brought his plastics and packaging executive experience after previously holding jobs at Fortune Plastics, Pitt Plastics and Heritage Bag Co.