Packaging thermformer Rohrer sold to private equity firm

WADSWORTH, OHIO (Jan. 26, 5:20 p.m. ET) -- The family that owned thermoformer Rohrer Corp. has sold its controlling interest to ShoreView Industries, a Minneapolis-based private equity firm.

Financial advising firm Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. of Chicago announced the deal Jan. 25. Terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1973 by brothers John and David Rohrer, Wadsworth, Ohio-based Rohrer manufactures thermoformed blister packaging as well as paper card stock for blisters and folding paper cartons. Rohrer’s operations consist of plants in Wadsworth; Buford, Ga.; and Huntley, Ill.

The firm was the 62nd largest North American thermoformer according to Plastics News’ most recent industry ranking, with estimated 2008 thermoforming sales of $16.5 million. The company employed 60 processing materials including PET, glycol-modified PET, polystyrene and PVC.

“They’ve been a model company with a lot of innovation and have fared well in a tough time,” Rick Weil, Mesirow’s director of investment banking, said of Rohrer in a Jan. 26 telephone interview. He said the Rohrer family continues to own part of the company, but would not give details.

After a competitive marketing process, ShoreView offered the most compelling fit for Rohrer, Weil said. Rohrer and ShoreView officials did not return calls seeking comment.

According to its Web site, ShoreView manages $600 million in equity capital. Its plastics-related businesses include World Wide Packaging Inc. of Florham Park, N.J., which imports Chinese-made cosmetics packaging; TMI International LLC of Pittsburgh, which extrudes flexible PVC for industrial energy-control and dock doors; automotive-parts extruder, dip molder and injection molder Caplugs, a division of Protective Industries Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y.; and injection molder Axygen Scientific Inc. of Union City, Calif., which makes pipets, sealing mats and films, test tube storage racks, microcentrifuge tubes and other items for the medical research industry.

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