In a cash transaction valued at USD 28.4m (about EUR 20.8m), plastic packaging films producer AEP Industries (South Hackensack, New Jersey; www.aepinc.com) has agreed to acquire “substantially all of the assets and specified liabilities” of Peabody, Massachusetts-based Webster Industries (www.websterindustries.com), an operating division of Chelsea Industries (Peabody). The deal is set to close in mid-to-late October.

Webster, with annual sales of USD 145m (EUR 107m), manufactures and distributes retail and institutional private-label food and rubbish bags as well as storage and re-sealable freezer bags from its site in Montgomery, Alabama / USA. Brendan Barba, CEO of AEP, said the combined organisation can expect to achieve “significant cost savings, realised principally from improved resin purchasing.” For Webster, the takeover will provide a “stronger platform,” said company president Jack Shields. There is “virtually no overlap” in the companies’ markets, he noted.