Target Report: Private Equity Places Bets on Two New Packaging Platforms

September 2025 was marked by the establishment of two new private equity-backed platforms in the packaging segments, underscoring the continued appeal of packaging as a growth and consolidation play for financial sponsors. While the PE-driven fever to acquire new label printing and other packaging companies has steadily cooled down over the past three years, these latest transactions reaffirm that, although lessened, the owners of independent packaging printing companies can expect continued interest from private equity firms to provide at least one possible path to an exit when they are ready.

Portrait Capital Enters the Packaging Segment

A new platform focused on label printing was formed by Portrait Capital, which entered the sector with two acquisitions announced on the same day. The platform was established with the acquisition of AAi Labels & Decals, located in Jonesboro, Arkansas. AAi Labels & Decals utilizes screen printing, flexography, offset, digital, and wide-format printing technologies to produce a diverse range of products, most notably durable labels that can withstand outdoor and industrial environments. Compliance requirements often drive demand for these products, and as such, they must often meet strict performance specifications. These labels include safety notices, informational decals, and nameplates that manufacturers apply to their new equipment products. Durable labels are attractive to private equity due to the regulatory-driven demand, high barriers to entry due to certification processes to meet specifications, and the recurring need for these types of labels on almost everything that is manufactured.

Portrait Capital simultaneously announced its first bolt-on acquisition to the AAi Labels platform, Texas-based Sticker Ranch. The acquired company sells labels via its online shopping portal, which includes a simple-to-use design tool and ordering interface. Sticker Ranch brings an updated sales channel to the mix, layered onto the well-established AAi production platform. The founder of Sticker Ranch has been tapped to be the CEO of the new platform, while the former owners of AAi Labels & Decals begin their transition to retirement. The announcement left no doubt that Portrait Capital will pursue additional strategic acquisitions for its new platform investment.

CORE Industrial Partners Forms Momentium

Momentium, a new company launched by CORE Industrial Partners, represents the creation of a platform brand to bring together prior related investments under one unified umbrella. The new platform brand was unveiled with the announcement that CORE acquired Superior Lithographics. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Superior specializes in large-format offset-printed products, including folding cartons, top sheets for corrugated cartons, and litho labels. The acquired company is focused on serving the food and consumer product markets that drive recurring revenue for printed packaging. Superior’s history is grounded in providing high-quality litho sheets that are used to decorate corrugated cartons, such as those used in discount-club warehouse-environment stores where consumers self-serve multipacks of a product.

In addition to the latest acquisition of Superior, the Momentium platform now incorporates CORE’s two prior packaging acquisitions. In December 2023, the fund acquired Century Box, a folding carton manufacturer based in Methuen, Massachusetts. In its announcement of that deal, Core Industrial Partners clearly articulated that Century Box was only the first round in its reentry to the packaging industry. Strategic initiatives and complementary acquisitions were planned and implemented. Less than a week later, the fund made good on its promise and announced round two, the acquisition of General Converting, a folding carton manufacturer in Bolingbrook, Illinois. (See The Target Report: The One-Two Punch Platform– November 2023.)

The aggregation of the three packaging companies under the Momentium platform brand enables CORE to promote a consolidated offering with over 400,000 square feet of manufacturing, with more than 370 employees across six facilities in three states. In addition to adding product capabilities, this latest acquisition reflects the strong trend in the packaging industry for companies to build geographic diversity via their acquisition strategies. With the purchase of Superior, Momentium can now claim coast-to-coast coverage in its manufacturing base. (For more on recent trends in the packaging segments, see The Target Report Annual Review – TTM August 2025.)

New Packaging Platforms Expand PE Focus to Specialty Labels

There has been a steady drumbeat of new platforms established in the packaging segments over the past couple of years. After several years of a red-hot market for flexo-based manufacturing companies that produce high-volume prime label products, the past year has been marked by the launch of platforms that aim to exploit more nuanced niches within the larger packaging market.

In June, Seneca Label & Packaging was launched by label industry veteran Nizar Elias with the purchase of Seneca Printing Express & Label.* The acquired company, located in western Pennsylvania, focuses primarily on serving the industrial market with cut-and-stack label products produced on offset presses. The acquisition was notable not only for the specialty products produced but also for the buyer’s plans to use Seneca Label as a platform for additional acquisitions.

In another non-prime-label transaction, Chattanooga, Tennessee-based private equity firm River Associates acquired ID Label at the end of last year. The acquired company produces variable information barcode labels and warehouse signage. The company’s labels, although not packaging per se, are attached to all sorts of packages as they move through the supply chain. River Associates noted that the acquisition was intended as a platform company investment and that they will be seeking complementary add-on acquisitions.

These differentiated packaging platforms illustrate a shift from high-volume prime labels toward specialized, defensible niches such as durable labels, variable barcode labels, industrial and compliance-driven products.

Abundant Opportunities Remain

Statistics from industry groups indicate that while the production of labels, folding cartons, and flexible packaging is highly concentrated in a few large manufacturers at the top end of each segment, there are still a considerable number of independently owned companies in the middle and especially at the lower end of the scale in terms of size. While the top firms capture a large share of the business, a substantial portion of the demand for packaging still goes to a long tail of independent companies that compete on service, customization, niche substrates and applications, speed-to-market, specialty coatings, short runs, and regional logistics. For owners contemplating an exit, September’s transactional activity serves as a reminder that private equity’s appetite for packaging remains strong, especially in specialized and differentiated niches.

* Graphic Arts Advisors, publisher of The Target Report, served as exclusive advisor to Seneca Printing Express & Label in this transaction.

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View The Target Report online, complete with deal logs and source links for September 2025

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