Packaging
Alpha Packaging Acquires Container Decorator Technigraph Corporation
Wednesday 02. April 2008 - Addition Brings High-Quality Decorating Capabilities to Leading Bottle Blow Molder
Alpha Packaging announced today that it has acquired Technigraph Corporation of Winona, Minnesota. Technigraph is a leading decorator of bottles and jars for the personal care, cosmetics, food and industrial products industries, specializing in high-end, multi-color screen printing. Technigraph prints on a wide variety of container shapes, sizes and materials, including the most common types of plastic, glass and metal packaging.
Alpha Packaging is a $100 million blow molder of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars for the personal care, pharmaceutical, nutritional supplement, and niche food and beverage markets. In addition to manufacturing, Alpha offers in-house package design services, mold-making and custom tooling.
According to Dave Spence, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Packaging, the two companies share many of the same customers and a common philosophy for serving them. “Weve worked with Technigraph on many projects in the past, and as an organization, they have always done an excellent job of taking care of the customer,” Spence says. “We have that same philosophy at Alpha, so as more of our business moves toward the personal care market, we saw great synergies with bringing Technigraphs decorating skills to Alpha. We believe Technigraph represents best-in-class decorating in our industry, with service to match.”
Technigraph will operate as an independent business unit of Alpha Packaging, with its existing management and employees continuing to serve its current customer base. They will also be able to serve new customers who buy bottles and jars from Alpha and want to benefit from the one-stop decorating services. Customers of Alpha/Technigraph can choose between or combine screen print, pressure sensitive labels, roll stamp, pad print, frosts, textures, thermo chromatics, doming effects and others, and Technigraph will continue to decorate on many substrates, including materials Alpha does not manufacture.
John Eddy, co-owner of Technigraph, agrees that the strengths of the two companies will bring substantial value to customers. “We are excited about the possibilities this transaction presents for our customers, employees and stakeholders,” he says. “The combined company is better positioned to compete in the marketplace by offering a wider range of services, products and innovation. Were all very enthusiastic about the future continued success of two fine organizations.”
Dan Creston, Chief Operating Officer of Alpha Packaging, says Alphas acquisition strategy is to identify well-run companies with good balance sheets that can immediately contribute to Alphas continued growth. “Over the past decade, Alpha has grown at double-digit rates even though the plastic packaging industry has not grown that fast,” Creston says. “To continue that type of growth, weve got to continue to invest in new technologies that expand the scope of products and services we offer to our key markets.” Creston adds that virtually all of the bottles Alpha makes are decorated or labeled before consumers buy them, so offering decorating services is a logical extension of Alphas core business.
Chuck Eddy, co-owner of Technigraph, agrees. “Over the years, Technigraphs focus has been to provide great value, quality and service. Combining Alpha Packaging and Technigraph allows us to maintain these core values while adding relevant capabilities and related joint services to the industry,” he says. “I think our customers will welcome a fresh, new, consolidated source for both the substrate and the graphics. Two leaders in their respective areas, together as a single source: It just makes sense,” he says.
Alpha has been fueling growth through several acquisitions over the past three years, and also benefitting from organic growth. In January 2005, Alpha entered into a financial partnership with Stonebridge Partners, a private equity firm in White Plains, New York. The move was intended to provide capital investment dollars to fuel Alphas continued growth in the plastic packaging marketplace. The Technigraph acquisition is the third major purchase for Alpha since becoming a Stonebridge portfolio company. In 2007, Alpha was ranked as the 31st largest blow molder of plastic bottles and jars in North America according to Plastics News.