US plastic packaging producer Berry Global (Evansville, Indiana; www.berryglobal.com) has agreed to pay USD 475m to acquire compatriot films manufacturer Clopay Plastic Products (Mason, Ohio / USA; www.clopayplastics.com) from the New York-based diversified management and holding company Griffon (www.griffon.com). The holding put Clopay up for sale in September of this year after receiving “unsolicited interest from several interested parties” for the business that produces breathable films, elastic films and laminates. The deal is expected to close in early 2018 following all regulatory approvals.

The films specialist with 1,500 employees, sales of USD 461m and EBITDA of USD 53m in fiscal 2017 (30 September), has US production facilities in Nashville, Tennessee, and Augusta, Kentucky. Internationally, it has bases in Europe at Aschersleben and Dombühl / Germany, in addition to São Paulo / Brazil, and Suzhou, Jiangsu / China. Key products include protective films used in baby nappies, adult incontinence and feminine care products, as well as medical gowns, puppy pads, house wrap, protective garments and surgical drapes. Griffon said the new owner will provide the appropriate economies of scale for the activities. The holding will retain the Clopay garage doors portfolio.

In announcing the deal, CEO Tom Salmon said Clopay broadens Berry’s presence as a global supplier to many of the leading consumer and industrial product manufacturers that it already supplies with other products. He added that management expects to achieve cost synergies of USD 20m through optimising complementary production capacities, sharing technical resources and reducing material and converting costs.

With its latest acquisition, the former Berry Plastics, which recently changed its corporate name, has taken another step toward expanding its presence in the films market. The acquisition earlier this year of US plastic packaging films producer AEP Industries (Montvale, New Jersey; www.aepinc.com) for USD 765m – see Plasteurope.com of 26.08.2016 – gave it 14 additional manufacturing sites in the US and Canada. Speaking to journalists, Salmon also hinted at further acquisitions down the road, remarking that the company’s pipeline “continues to be very robust with global opportunities.”

For fiscal 2017, the Berry Global group reported a 9% increase in sales to USD 7.1 bn and a 10% increase in operating EBITDA to USD 1.3 bn.