The deal was completed on 12 November and will see Americk Packaging’s turnover rise from around £81m to around £100m by the end of the year.
The group, which has sites across mainland UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, said the acquisition will complement its existing flexible packaging, labels and carton operations and increase the range of products available to its European customer base.
As part of the deal, the group will inherit Adare Advantage’s products including the Electronic Article Surveillance anti-theft system as well as the independent artwork and content management system Starfish, a service that is already used by a variety of clients, including global brands.
The organisation will also acquire machinery including five label printers, Prati rewinding machines and a Bobst Firenze Revo flexible film machine.
Adare Advantage, which was a discrete company within the Adare Group, had 110 staff and recorded a turnover of £13.8m for the year ended 31 October 2014.
It has been rebranded as Americk Advantage and will remain located in Haverhill, Suffolk with the same structure and management team.
Advantage has diversified over the past few years into artwork services, security labelling and recycled packaging, including containers and lidding films.
Americk Packaging chief executive Patrick Doran said the acquisition will “add a new dimension” to Americk Packaging.
“The core strengths of the business and its successful track record of year-on-year growth is a credit to the management team, all of whom will continue to run the business,” said Doran.
“The diverse product portfolio will complement our group strategy and intention to offer market-leading supply of a wide range of packaging solutions. The addition of the Starfish service will add real value to our existing customer base as we roll it out across the group.”
Americk Advantage managing director David Mills added. “This is a tremendous opportunity for our business, staff and customers.”
Adare said it sold its packaging arm following a strategic review of its activities in which it concluded Adare Advantage would fit better as part of a packaging group. The move has come just over six months after Adare completed a £60m management buy-out.
Adare chief executive Robert Whiteside said: “We are extremely pleased that Adare Advantage will become part of Americk Packaging who have vast knowledge of the industry, an impressive infrastructure and ambitious plans for Adare Advantage as part of the Americk Packaging group.”
He added that Adare’s strategic focus is the provision of marketing and essential communications services through its core businesses, Adare International and Adare SEC, which was formed on 1 November following the integration of Kalamazoo and Adare Limited.
Following the acquisition, Americk Packaging now has 600 staff. The other parts of the business are Americk Marchmont as well as Americk ASP Flexibles, Americk Primopost, Americk Webtech and Americk Systems Labelling, all of which have been acquired by the group over the past three years.
The organisation, which supplies packaging to a variety of sectors encompassing FMCG and healthcare, said further future acquisitions are “not out of the question”.
