US packaging specialist Berry Plastics (Evansville, Indiana; www.berryplastics.com) is to acquire infection prevention materials producer Avintiv (Charlotte, North Carolina / USA; www.avintiv.com) from private equity funds managed by US private equity giant Blackstone (New York / USA; www.blackstone.com) for around USD 2.45 bn in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2015.

Avintiv is a leading developer and producer of speciality packaging materials used in infection prevention, personal care and high-performance solutions. It has 23 locations in 14 countries and an employee base of over 4,500. In the year ended March 2015, the company recorded an operating profit of USD 303m on revenues of USD 2.1 bn. Berry Plastics additionally expects to realise around USD 50m in annual cost synergies.

Jon Rich, chairman and CEO of Berry Plastics, said: “We are extremely excited to welcome the team and global capabilities of Avintiv to the Berry organisation. The combination of Berry Plastics and Avintiv creates a global leader in plastics packaging and engineered speciality materials with enhanced technology, material, and commercial capabilities to more broadly serve our customers.”

Berry Plastics is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and reached net sales of USD 5 bn in fiscal 2014. For the third quarter of fiscal 2015 (June 2015), the company recorded net sales of USD 1.24 bn compared to USD 1.3 bn in the same prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily attributed to decreased selling prices as a result of the pass-through of lower raw material costs, a negative impact from foreign currency changes, and soft customer demand partially offset by net sales from acquisition volume attributed to the Healthcare Containers and Closures business purchased from Rexam (see Plasteurope.com of 04.06.2014) last year and volume gains in certain product categories.