Alpha Packaging announced today that it has acquired Progressive Plastics, Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, in its largest acquisition to date. Progressive is a manufacturer and decorator of plastic bottles and containers primarily for the personal care, auto care, housewares, and food markets.

Alpha Packaging is a blow molder of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terepthalate (PET) bottles and jars for the personal care, pharmaceutical, nutritional supplement, and niche food and beverage markets. In addition, Alpha’s Technigraph decorating division provides environmentally-friendly container decorating services to leading personal care brands. Irving Place Capital, a middle-market private equity firm, acquired Alpha in September 2010.

Dave Spence, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alpha, said, “Progressive is a well-run company with attractive product lines in household chemicals and food packaging. This acquisition is an important first step to developing new business in key industries which are critical to Alpha’s growth plan.”  

Dan Creston, Alpha’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, said, “Alpha’s growth strategy is to acquire successful companies whose product lines and customer contacts open new opportunities for Alpha’s existing sales force. Progressive’s product lines greatly expand the number of products we can take to the market. The opportunity for cross-selling stock products into both companies’ existing customers will provide some immediate sales opportunities and also help Alpha move toward its long-term growth objectives.”
             
Progressive Plastics has established a reputation in the industry for being a nimble, flexible and reliable supplier of PET and HDPE packaging, and also manufactures some polypropylene and PVC items. Progressive utilizes four basic blow molding technologies, including Extrusion Blow Molding (EBM), Injection Blow Molding (IBM), Single Stage Injection Stretch Blow Molding (ISBM) and Two-Stage Stretch Blow Molding (also called Reheat and Blow, or RHB). The company also manufactures preforms on state of the art injection molding equipment to support its RHB operation or to sell preforms directly to end users. Progressive’s 2-stage PET operations will be complementary to Alpha’s recent investments in 2-stage blow molding.

Progressive’s plant will begin operating as a branch of Alpha effective immediately. Operations in the Cleveland plant will continue to be run by Progressive executives with extensive experience at the company. P&M Corporate Finance of Southfield, Michigan, served as financial advisor to Progressive.

Alpha has more than quadrupled in size over the past decade through a combination of key acquisitions and organic growth. From 2005 to 2010, Alpha Packaging evolved from a $54 million company with two locations to a $136 million company with seven plants. In 2010, Alpha was ranked as the 21st largest blow molder in North America according to Plastics News. Progressive Plastics listed as the 36th largest blow molder on that same list.

About Alpha Packaging:
Alpha Packaging is a leading manufacturer of HDPE and PET bottles for the nutritional supplement, pharmaceutical and personal care industries. It employs approximately 525 people at six facilities in the United States and one plant in Europe. In addition to manufacturing, Alpha Packaging has tool-making capabilities, from unit body cavity molds to complete high-cavity production tooling, and also offers high-speed, automated container decorating services. Alpha’s sales force sells its products through leading domestic distributors, and also maintains a network of international distributors in key markets. The current management team has been in place since 1985.

About Progressive Plastics:
Progressive Plastics was established in 1966 and employs 255 people at its Cleveland, Ohio, manufacturing plant. It manufactures over 160 stock items, as well as hundreds of custom bottles and jars for the household chemical, personal care, and food and beverage industries. Progressive’s comprehensive and contemporary quality management system is Dairy and Pharmaceutical certified, and is in full compliance with FDA, ISO 9001, GMP, HACCP and OHSA requirements to ensure the on-time delivery of reliable packaging components.