A Busy Holiday Season for Graham Partners, with Five Add-on Acquisitions

Graham Partners has recently accelerated its acquisition pace, with three of its portfolio companies announcing a total of five add-ons in the fourth quarter. The acquirers, LINE-X, Infiltrator Systems and Berry Plastics, are all portfolio companies of Graham Partners. Highlights from Graham Partners’ more recent add-on acquisition spree are as follows:

LINE-X lined up with two of its former master franchisees, Advanced Protective Coatings (APC), and Northwest Urethane. In conjunction with these transactions, LINE-X appointed Kevin Heronimus, founder and former owner of APC, as the new CEO of LINE-X Protective Coatings, and Spike Magnuson, founder and former owner of Northwest Urethane, to its executive team. LINE-X is a global provider of specialty protective coatings through a franchise polyurethane formulation, which is principally used to make branded spray-on pick-up truck bedliners and other industrial protective coatings.

Infiltrator Systems has purchased EZ Set Tank Company’s septic tank lids and risers business. This product line addition enhances Infiltrator’s current septic tank product line. Infiltrator had originally planned to develop its own lids and risers; however, this opportunity has allowed it to immediately enter the market with a branded product at a comparable cost to a greenfield approach. Earlier this year, Infiltrator purchased EZflow™ (an unrelated company), which positioned Infiltrator as the largest septic products company in the onsite industry with a combined 2.5 million systems installed across North America over the last 22 years. Based in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Infiltrator has developed a reputation for offering innovative products that meet increasingly stringent environmental and regulatory requirements for onsite wastewater treatment systems.

Berry Plastics announced that it has acquired Pliant Corporation, a leading producer of value-added film and flexible packaging products for personal care, medical, food, industrial and agricultural markets. Pliant operates 16 manufacturing facilities around the world, and employs approximately 2,800 people with annual net sales of $0.9 billion. Berry has also entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Superfos Packaging, Inc., a $47 million in sales manufacturer of injection molded plastic rigid open top containers and other plastic packaging products for the food, industrial & household chemical, building materials and personal care end markets. The acquisition of Superfos is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010. Berry Plastics is a leading manufacturer and marketer of plastic packaging products, with 13,000 plus customers, 80 manufacturing facilities, and over 16,000 employees. Berry has earned a reputation as a leading, successful consolidator within the broader packaging industry.

About Graham Partners (www.grahampartners.net): Graham Partners is a leading, lower middle market industrial private equity firm based in suburban Philadelphia with over $1.5 billion under management. Graham Partners is sponsored by the privately held Graham Group of York, Pennsylvania, an industrial and investment concern with global interests in plastics, packaging, machinery, building products and outsource manufacturing. Graham Partners seeks to acquire industrial companies with revenues between $30 million and $500 million that participate in manufacturing niches where it can leverage its unique combination of operating resources and financial expertise.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Christina Morin (cmorin@grahampartners.net)
Tel: (610) 408-0500 / Fax: (610) 408-0600
www.grahampartners.net