NEW YORK, December 22, 2021 – Wellspring Capital Management Group LLC (“Wellspring”), a New York-based private equity firm, today announced that it has closed the sale of its portfolio company Paragon Films, Inc. (“Paragon” or the “Company”), a leading manufacturer of high performance stretch film, to affiliates of private equity firm Rhône. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Paragon is a leading manufacturer of high performance stretch films for transit packaging distributors serving the food and beverage, consumer products, logistics and industrials end markets, among others. Paragon manufacturers a variety of premium quality, 100% recyclable hand and machine stretch films that offer superior load containment and puncture resistance to packaging distributors and end users. Paragon’s proprietary formulations and culture of technical expertise have established the company as the leading high performance stretch film manufacturer in North America.
John Morningstar, a Managing Partner and Co-President at Wellspring, said, “Our partnership with Paragon represents another successful investment for our firm in the packaging sector. Over time, the Company has become a thought leader in high performance film with a demonstrated value proposition centered around quality and tangible cost savings for the end user. We are grateful to Darin Tang and his team for their exceptional leadership over the course of our partnership and look forward to seeing what they achieve in the next phase of the Company’s ownership.”
Matthew Harrison, a Managing Partner at Wellspring, commented, “During our partnership, Paragon improved upon an already strong track record of commercial and operational excellence and invested meaningfully in the development of sustainable films, solidifying its leadership position in the high performance segment. We believe the Company is well positioned to continue gaining share, a big driver of which is Paragon’s ownership of one of the strongest, greenest solutions in the market place.”
Darin Tang, CEO of Paragon, added, “Wellspring’s sector expertise and network of resources allowed us to exceed our growth expectations despite the challenging operating environment presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. As we embark on this next chapter with Rhône, we thank Wellspring for its stewardship and support over the last several years.”
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel to Wellspring in the sale and R.W. Baird and Rothschild served as financial advisors to Paragon.
About Wellspring Capital Management
Wellspring Capital Management is a leading private equity firm headquartered in New York. Since its founding in 1995, Wellspring has raised over $4.5 billion of initial capital commitments through six private equity funds. In total, Wellspring’s current portfolio companies employ nearly 60,000 people around the world and generated aggregate revenues in excess of approximately $4.5 billion in the last 12 months.1 Over the past 25 years, Wellspring has invested in over 45 platform investments across various segments of the U.S. and global economies. Wellspring’s objective is to bring partnership, experience and value creation to each investment. By teaming up with strong management, Wellspring seeks to unlock underlying value and pursue new growth opportunities through strategic initiatives, operating improvements and add‐on acquisitions. The firm functions as a strategic partner, providing management teams with top‐line support, M&A experience, financial expertise and access to resources. For additional information, please visit www.wellspringcapital.com.