Garvey Group, Graphic Tech Acquisitions Expand Australian Firm's POP Footprint

Compete in the point-of-purchase (POP) and/or packaging products arena? If so, then you better familiarize yourself with Melbourne, Australia-based Orora Ltd.

It's been on an acquisition tear to expand its POP manufacturing footprint in North America, and just announced a definitive agreement to acquire Niles, Ill.-based The Garvey Group and Fullerton, Calif.-based Graphic Tech for a total of $54 million. Once completed, they will further expand the publicly-held Australian company's footprint in the Midwest and West Coast.

According to Orora financial disclosures, these latest acquisitions represent a multiple of 5.8 times last 12 months' EBITDA. In addition, Orora announced it has agreed to reimburse vendors for recent growth capital investments totaling $5 million. The Garvey Group (which also has locations in Los Angeles and Franklin, Wis.) and Graphic Tech transactions are expected to be completed by the end of March.

These most recent deals come on the heels of Orora's earlier purchase of Integracolor, a Mesquite, Texas-based POP, merchandising materials and visual communications provider, for $77 million in March 2016, followed by the acquisition of The Register Print Group, a Clifton, N.J., provider of POP retail displays, long-run litho labels, packaging and fulfillment, for $44 million in January 2017.

"Subject to the acquisitions of Garvey and Graphic Tech completing in March of this year, that will mean in 12 months since we bought IntegraColor and in line with our strategy, we've assembled a full set of POP businesses with a national footprint and with revenues of approximately $230 million," said Orora Managing Director and CEO Nigel Garrard during a recent earnings call with analysts, where he revealed the two latest acquisitions.

"We think that these four businesses provide us with a unique national manufacturing and fulfillment footprint able to serve corporate customers across multiple locations," he added. "And early signs ... is that customers are attracted to the national network that we are in the process of putting together." North American vertical markets served include clientele within the industrial, food, warehousing and shipping, technology and healthcare industries.

With 40+ manufacturing plants and 87 distribution centers across seven countries and 6,200 employees, Orora supplies packaging products and services to the industrial, grocery, consumer goods and industrial markets. This includes the design and manufacture of packaging products such as glass bottles, beverage cans, corrugated boxes, recycled paper, cartons, multi-wall paper bags and POP displays.

The $3 billion conglomerate also offers broad end-to-end packaging solutions, including global product sourcing, distribution, design, printing and warehousing optimization.

Orora operates in more than 75 North American locations, reportedly generating approximately $1.2 billion in revenue on this continent.

Its North American business group provides total packaging solutions within the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The Australasian business group is focused on fiber and beverage packaging within Australia and New Zealand. The company also has integrated corrugated sheet and box manufacturing and equipment sales capabilities.

In a followup call with Printing Impressions, The Garvey Group CEO Ed Garvey indicated that he and his entire senior management team plan to remain in day-to-day roles — and that all of his employees will be offered positions — after the transaction is finalized the end of March. "I think I'm going to have a ball building something in the industry. This is not a story of consolidation or assimilation," the past Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame inductee said. "It's a story of growth."

Given the fact that The Garvey Group is almost 100 years old, Garvey admitted that he thought long and hard before ultimately deciding to sell, but feels very comfortable with his chosen business partner and the national organization that Orora intends to build.