Technological watch

SK Capital buying Catalent blow-fill-seal business

Woodstock, Ill. — Private equity firm SK Capital Partners LP is making another purchase of a specialty plastics packaging company, buying Catalent Pharma Solutions LLC's blow-fill-seal business.

The business has a single plant in Woodstock with 30 machines molding polyethylene and polypropylene bottles, mostly for ophthalmic applications.

SK Capital announced Jan. 6 that it has signed a definitive agreement to buy the business. The deal is scheduled to close in April. Terms were not disclosed.

"Divesting our BFS manufacturing business will allow us to concentrate on our growing core activities of developing oral, inhaled and biologic drugs with customers, as well as rapidly extending our technological portfolio of new, emerging modalities, including cell and gene therapies," Jonathan Arnold, president of oral and specialty delivery at Catalent, said in a news release. Catalent is based in Somerset, N.J.

SK is a New York-based private equity firm that has several plastics materials holdings, but more recently has purchased specialty plastics packaging companies, too. Its well-known plastics materials holdings include Ascend Performance Materials, Geon Performance Solutions, Techmer PM and SI Group.

In December, SK announced an intention to move downstream into plastics processing, with the disclosure that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to buy Ipackchem SAS, a Paris-based blow molder that makes barrier containers.

Publication date: 07/01/2021

Plastics News - packaging



      

This project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 837761.