ESCO Technologies Inc. announced that it has acquired Plastique Group Limited (Plastique). The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Plastique, which will become part of ESCO's Thermoform Engineered Quality LLC (TEQ) operating subsidiary, is a market leader in the development and manufacture of highly-technical thermoformed plastic and precision molded pulp fiber packaging primarily serving pharmaceutical, personal care, and various specialty end markets.

With annualized sales of approximately $35 million, Plastique is headquartered in Tunbridge Wells, England, with manufacturing locations in Nottingham, England and Poznan, Poland.

The addition of Plastique better positions TEQ for significant, profitable growth by providing immediate access to new customers and new geographies in both Europe and North America for both its existing thermoformed packaging solutions as well as its new pulp fiber packaging capabilities. Plastique also expands TEQ's growth opportunities within its existing medical device and pharmaceutical customers.

Pulp fiber packaging better meets today's market requirements by preserving the environment with a "greener" and more sustainable packaging solution. Using compression molding and dry technology also produces a superior quality with enhanced precision compared to traditional pulp packaging. Additionally, pulp fiber complements and can be used in combination with traditional thermoformed plastic to provide a unique, cost effective, and sustainable packaging solution.

Randy Loga, President of TEQ, commented, "Adding Plastique's capabilities to our product portfolio creates an exciting and meaningful growth opportunity for TEQ by combining our unique technologies, product offerings, and wide-spread geographies. Additionally, having both a North American and European presence is a prerequisite to being a top-tier supplier to the larger global medical device and pharma customers, and we are confident we can exploit these new opportunities."

John Lowe, Managing Director of Plastique, commented, "Combining with TEQ provides the group with significant opportunities to accelerate the growth of our existing portfolio of businesses and allows us to expand into a broader platform of new product development areas. The similarities within the two operations are extensive and having the chance to jointly develop new market opportunities across the globe is extremely exciting."

Vic Richey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "I'm excited about the future growth prospects at TEQ as we continue to see meaningful and tangible shareholder value creation in this area. With the addition of Fremont Plastics and Plastique, both acquired at reasonable prices, we now have a technical packaging solutions business approaching $100 million in annual revenues with above industry-average profit margins. We now have a solid foothold in Europe and have added a new complementary technical packaging solution. We are confident in our ability to exploit our scale and our expanded geographic footprint to accelerate growth in both sales and profitability. I'm impressed with Plastique's proven track record of growth and profitability as well as their strong and disciplined management team, and I'm certain these common attributes fit well with TEQ and the other ESCO family of companies."

 

escotechnologies.com

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