Atlantic Packaging Forms Joint Venture with StandFast Packaging

TORONTO—January 20, 2015—Atlantic Packaging Products, based in Toronto, has formed a joint venture sheet feeder plant that will operate in Carol Stream, IL. The joint venture, called BlackHawk Corrugated, will be co-owned and operated by Atlantic and its partner StandFast Packaging of Addison, IL, and is expected to be fully operational by late 2015, Atlantic says.

Dave Boles, president at Atlantic, says the decision to form the joint venture is partly in response to the consolidation taking place in the North American corrugated packaging market. The company deemed development of joint ventures essential for its long-term growth strategy. The Chicago project is the first of what it expects to be several joint venture initiatives that it is developing in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.

Assisting Atlantic with the venture is G2Capital Advisors, which is acting as Atlantic Packaging’s exclusive strategic advisor on executing its U.S. growth initiative.

"We have spoken with a significant number of independent box plants located across the Midwest and Northeast and there is clearly an appetite for them to secure their long-term paper supply with a reputable, quality supplier who offers competitive market pricing," says Jeffrey Unger, CEO at G2 Capital Advisors. "They are intrigued by the long-term partnership and investment model what Atlantic can offer them in times of economic uncertainty in these markets."