The Apollo Funds affiliate of US private equity firm Apollo Global Management (New York, New York; www.apollo.com) has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in packaging company Novolex (Hartsville, South Carolina) from funds managed by compatriot investment firm Carlyle Group (Washington, D.C.; www.carlyle.com). Financial terms have not been disclosed. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2022. Carlyle will retain a minority stake in Novolex.

This is not the first time for the packaging group to be passed on from one financial investor to the other. Carlyle had already bought Novolex at the end of 2016 from the then owners, US investment companies Wind Point Partners (Chicago, Illinois; www.wppartners.com) and TPG (Forth Worth, Texas; www.tpg.com – see Plasteurope.com of of 01.12.2016). Under the ownership of Carlyle, Novolex has grown significantly, especially through acquisitions, and now generates annual sales of almost USD 3.5 bn, according to business information service Forbes.

The company, which specialises in food packaging, employs more than 10,000 people at its 57 production sites in North America and Europe. For Apollo, the purchase of Novolex is another investment in the plastics industry. At the end of 2021, the US financial investor bought the second largest European manufacturer of PVC, Kem One (Lyon, France; www.kemone.com – see Plasteurope.com of 11.01.2022).