Business Wire | July 20, 2022
LOS ANGELES, CA – Highview Capital LLC (“Highview”) today announced the sale of its portfolio company, American Plastics LLC, (“American Plastics” or “AP” or the “Company”) a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative, sustainable home storage and commercial cleaning products.
American Plastics was formed by Highview and Victory Park Capital Advisors, LLC (“Victory Park”) through the initial acquisition of the assets of Katy Industries, Inc. in 2017 and the subsequent strategic merger in 2018 with Creative Plastic Concepts and Centrex Plastics, two high-growth complementary businesses owned by Nick Reinhart. Since then, Highview, alongside Victory Park, has led a transformation of the legacy business, recruiting a world class management team, revamping the go-to-market strategy and driving substantial operational improvements to create a national leader in plastic-injection molded products. Over the course of Highview’s investment, the Company invested approximately $100 million of growth capital to increase capacity, create highly automated operations, and introduce new products. This capital investment laid the foundation for the Company’s end-to-end capabilities in the design and manufacture of proprietary products for the home storage and commercial cleaning end-markets, which serve a roster of blue-chip customers.
P.J. Gilbert, Managing Director at Highview and Chairman of American Plastics, commented: “American Plastics’ success is the result of bringing together three scale industry players and driving a transformation in partnership with a top-notch management team. A combination of newly implemented cutting-edge technologies and a renewed focus on our core storage customers led AP to a true leadership position in the industry. We would like to thank Robert Guerra, Nick Reinhart and the management team for their partnership in growing the Company over the last five years.”
“Over the past five years, we have worked tirelessly to create a leading presence in the world of sustainable injection-molded plastics, and we are extremely proud of all we have accomplished,” said Robert Guerra, President and Chief Executive Office of American Plastics. “We are thankful for the Highview and Victory Park teams’ deep knowledge of our industry and their ability to roll up their sleeves and truly work alongside us to get to the best outcome for our team. We are greatly looking forward to the future.”
“Since 2017, we’ve been on an amazing journey with Highview and the American Plastics management team to develop a national leader in the industry,” said Charlie Asfour, on behalf of Victory Park. “Together, we aimed to transform this business and the sale is a reflection of this group’s dedication to that shared goal. We greatly look forward to watching American Plastics continue to grow and flourish.”
About American Plastics, LLC
American Plastics is a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative plastic-injection molded products for the household & garage storage and commercial cleaning end-markets. American Plastics is headquartered in St. Louis and operates a national footprint of manufacturing and distribution facilities in Arizona, Ohio, Missouri, and South Carolina. For more information, please visit: www.americanplasticsllc.com.
About Highview Capital, LLC
Highview Capital, LLC is an opportunistic private equity investment vehicle headquartered in Los Angeles, CA providing transformational equity. Highview leverages its creative vision and expertise to partner with management teams of leading middle-market businesses undergoing periods of transformation. For more information, visit www.highviewcapital.com.
The sale of American Plastics marks the first exit for Highview Capital since the firm’s launch in 2016 and is a testament to Highview’s approach to helping middle market companies poised to undergo a transformation through a constructive, collaborative, and long-term partnership.
About Victory Park Capital Advisors, LLC
Victory Park Capital is a global alternative investment firm that provides capital to emerging and established businesses in the U.S. and abroad. The firm’s differentiated offerings leverage an extensive network of industry relationships, disciplined deal origination, creative financing capabilities, broad credit structuring and special situations expertise. The firm was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Chicago with additional resources in New York, Los Angeles, Austin and Miami. VPC is privately held and a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. For more information, please visit www.victoryparkcapital.com.