Advanced Barrier Extrusions (ABX) acquired Flexographic Packaging Company
Graham Partners, a private investment firm targeting technology-driven advanced manufacturing companies, announces that its portfolio company, Advanced Barrier Extrusions, LLC (“ABX”), a leading co-extruder of multi-layer high barrier flexible packaging films for food and medical applications, has acquired the business of Flexographic Packaging Company (“FPC”) from its founder. Headquartered in Waupun, Wisconsin, FPC is a provider of flexible packaging primarily serving the food industry.
FPC affords an opportunity for ABX to vertically integrate and offer a complete packaging solution to customers, expanding ABX’s capabilities to include laminating and flexographic printing. With the addition of FPC, ABX will now be one of the few mid-sized technical high barrier cast film providers with printing and laminating capabilities. Graham Partners believes that this acquisition positions ABX to win new business and better serve its high growth customers, who are benefiting from several consumer megatrends, including a shift in preference toward clean labels, increased spending on fresh foods, heightened focus on food safety, and a greater number of SKUs and brands in the core food categories ABX serves.
William Timmerman, Managing Principal at Graham Partners, states, “The combination of ABX and FPC unlocks tremendous potential, enabling us to provide a complete solution to our customers and continue to innovate our product offering. We are looking forward to leveraging our combined technical expertise to accelerate growth.” Steven Graham, CEO of Graham Partners, concludes, “Our original investment thesis in ABX was premised on adding capabilities to build a full-service flexible packaging provider. We are excited to have taken a major step toward this goal a year into our partnership with ABX.”