Charlotte, North Carolina based Sealed Air Corporation (SEE) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Richmond, Virginia based Liquibox and utilize its packaging solutions, such as bag-in-box, to expand into new industrial sectors.
Liquibox’s full-year revenue for 2022 is estimated at $362 million, with its bag-in-box business currently applied to dairy, coffee, water, wine, fountain beverage syrup, milkshake mix, and liquid foods products, as well as other industrial applications. The recently launched Bag-in-Box Liquipure claims to be a recycle-ready replacement for metallic laminated bags, and the Liquibox Orbiter is a supposedly automatic six-head rotary filler that hopes to increase productivity in high-volume operations.
With flexible packaging solutions for fluids and liquids thought to be a $7 billion addressable potential revenue opportunity with a projected annual growth rate of around 6 percent, the acquisition is expected to contribute to the reported acceleration of SEE’s Cryovac Fluids and Liquids business, said to be its fastest growing sector.
SEE plans to take on Liquibox’s established presence in various beverage sectors and expand its core competencies in barrier bag manufacturing, film extrusion, automation, and digital technology, alongside fitments to drive accelerated combined growth.
In terms of expansion, the Bag-in-Box, as well as the Cryovac Autopouch vertical form fill seal and the FlexPrep automation solutions for back-of-house productivity on condiments and sauces, is hoped to provide SEE with an opportunity to tackle food service and quick service restaurants.
Liquibox’s filler equipment and technology are also expected to bring growth for SEE Automation, and its integrated approach to digital solutions is planned to benefit e-commerce-ready solutions for fluids and liquids alongside Sealed Air’s prismiq digital packaging and printing solutions.
The news comes after Liquibox’s Liquipure ultra-flexible packaging with mono-material VINIflow dispensing tap made it to the finals of the 2022 Sustainability Awards. The company’s new automatic and semi-automatic bag-in-box filling equipment for liquid foods, beverages, and non-edible products was recently unveiled.
Sealed Air recently debuted its first ready-to-roll paper wrapping systems designed for low- and medium-volume e-commerce applications.
