Packaging firm sells for $1.3B
STAMFORD — Private equity firm Olympus Partners has sold packagingfirm Pregis for more than $1.3 billion to Manhattanbased private equity firm Warburg Pincus, the latest of several major deals this year.
Olympus’ sale price compared with a $472 million acquisition of Pregis, whose products include protective envelopes and foam-in-place packaging. Under Olympus’ ownership since May 2014, Deerfield, Ill.-based Pregis has made six acquisitions and expanded from 14 to 22 manufacturing facilities across North America and Europe. It employs about 2,250.
“The fund in which it sits is maturing, and our job is to eventually get the money back to investors,” said Olympus founder and managing partner Rob Morris. “We’ve done several things to change and improve the company, and the opportunity to take advantage of the marketplace was there.”
The sale followed Olympus’ nearly $400 million acquisition last week of the land-animal protein division of 3D Corporate Solutions, which makes pet-food protein ingredients. The purchase marked the second buy made out from Olympus’ seventh fund, which is worth a company record of about $3 billion.
In March, Olympus reacquired Tank Holding Corp., for approximately $1 billion. In 2008, Olympus helped create the plastictank manufacturer — which markets its products under the Norwesco, Snyder, Bonar, Stratis and Bushman brands — and then sold it for about $830 million in 2012.
Factoring in the Pregis sale, Olympus’ portfolio includes 11 companies in industries including logistics, health care, financial services and consumer goods.
Among other milestones, Olympus saw another of its companies, ride-sharing powerhouse Lyft, become a public company in March.
Olympus has posted a 29 percent “gross internal rate of return” since it started investing in 1990. It ranked as a top-15 performer among U.S. funds, according to a 2016 report from alternative assets data and intelligence firm Preqin.
Investors include some of the country’s largest pension funds, such as the Virginia Retirement System, which covers about 600,000 active and retired public-sector employees.
Olympus has operated in Stamford since 1990. It is based in the Metro Center complex, at 1 Station Place, across the street from the downtown Metro-North Railroad train station.