Brook & Whittle Announces Investment in Prime Package and Label
Transaction Further Enhances Leading Position in High-Growth Prime Label Categories
NEW YORK, October 18, 2018 - Brook and Whittle Holdings, Corp. (“Brook & Whittle”), a leading provider of pressure sensitive and shrink sleeve prime labels to consumer and medical end markets, today announced an investment in Prime Package & Label Co., L.L.C. (“Prime”), a producer of pressure sensitive, shrink sleeve and heat transfer labels into a variety of consumer end markets. Similar to Brook & Whittle, Prime is exclusively focused on growth-oriented categories of the broader prime label market. The combination of Brook & Whittle and Prime increases end market, customer and geographic diversification while maintaining a strong growth focus. Notably, Prime expands Brook & Whittle’s manufacturing footprint from the Northeast to the Midwest and Southeast with facilities in St. Louis and Nashville. Brook & Whittle is majority owned by private equity firm Snow Phipps Group, L.L.C. (“Snow Phipps”). The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"We are thrilled to partner with Prime and enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead of us," said Don Sturdivant, Chairman of Brook & Whittle and Operating Partner at Snow Phipps. "Prime exemplifies Brook & Whittle’s acquisition strategy: enhance our organic go-to-market strategy while diversifying our business mix, expanding our national footprint and creating scale advantages that drive further growth. Prime increases Brook & Whittle’s presence in personal care and household and provides a Midwestern and Southeastern manufacturing footprint that allows us to serve a larger customer base more effectively."
Prime was co-founded by Mario Gleijeses and Jim Traube in 1994 with a focus on high-end flexographic printing. Mr. Traube will continue to be responsible for Prime’s day-to-day operations along with Jay Olendorff, General Manager. "Prime has successfully grown through exceptional customer service, innovation and product quality," added Jim Traube, Co-Owner of Prime. "This partnership will further enhance that value proposition to customers. We look forward to adding our insights and innovations. In particular, I’m excited about Brook & Whittle’s wide web rotogravure capabilities, which will round out our heat transfer and shrink sleeve offerings."
"Prime is an exciting business based on customer service, which we will continue to focus on enhancing," stated Mark Pollard, CEO of Brook & Whittle. "We are eager to focus our combined efforts towards new product development and unique sustainable packaging solutions to help serve our collective customer base as it prepares for a new generation of growth. The expanded manufacturing platform will increase the breadth of our decoration capabilities and create new capacity to prepare us for further growth. Jim and team have built an amazing company and together we are better prepared to serve our customers’ needs."
"We are building a leading label platform focused on growth-oriented categories that provides unique and differentiated products as well as best-in-class service to our customers," added Gerald Sheehan, Managing Director at Snow Phipps. "We will continue to make investments in the business that will drive organic growth along those lines. Additionally, we are focused on acquisitions that enhance the Brook & Whittle platform in both North America and globally."
Prime is the first add-on acquisition that Brook & Whittle will have completed since Snow Phipps’ initial investment in October 2017.
About Brook & Whittle
Brook & Whittle is a leading technically-oriented North American manufacturer of premium prime label solutions with highly differentiated capabilities, entrusted by some of the largest global brands. The Company provides pressure sensitive labels, shrink labels and medical packaging, with a focus on unique product configurations and decorative effects requiring significant technical expertise. With a heritage rooted in product development and comprehensive in-house manufacturing operations, the Company draws on its wide variety of specialized printing expertise, including UV flexographic, rotogravure and digital, to create unique decorated labels across a range of substrates. Brook & Whittle operates three production facilities in North Branford, CT, Guilford, CT and Amherst, NY. To learn more about Brook & Whittle, visit www.brookandwhittle.com.
About Prime Package and Label
Prime Package and Label is a producer of pressure sensitive, shrink sleeve and heat transfer labels serving the personal care, household, lawn and garden, food, beverage, wine, beer, spirits, automotive, pet care and pharmaceutical end markets, among others. Prime is headquartered in St. Louis, MO, with an additional facility in Nashville, TN. For more information, visit www.pplstl.com.
About Snow Phipps Group
Snow Phipps is a private equity firm focused on lower middle-market control investments with $2.4 billion of total capital commitments raised since its founding in 2005. The firm generally focuses on companies in attractive sub-sectors across the Industrials, Services and Consumer industries and targets platform investments with enterprise values ranging from $100 million to $500 million. The Snow Phipps investment team collaborates with its Operating Partners and portfolio management teams to create value through an operationally focused strategy often led by organic or acquisition-driven growth. To learn more about Snow Phipps, visit www.snowphipps.com.
