Canadian PE firm Onex to buy SGS International for $813 million

Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp yesterday agreed to buy SGS International, a provider of design-to-print graphics services to the consumer products packaging industry, from rival Court Square Capital Partners, for $813 million.

Onex Partners III, Onex' $4.7-billion private equity fund, will make an equity investment of around $260 million, of which Onex' share is approximately $65 million, and SGS senior management team will also make a significant equity investment,  the Toronto-based PE firm said in a statement.

Founded in 1946 and based in Louisville, Kentucky, SGS is a vertically-integrated provider of packaging graphics services to branded consumer products companies, retailers and the printers that service them.

SGS provides critical services that ensure customers are able to obtain or produce consistent, high-quality packaging materials. The company has over 2,400 employees spanning a network of 37 production facilities and at more than 100 customer locations across 14 countries.

SGS opened its first dedicated prepress facility in 1991. In 1994, SGS expanded its geographic scope to include Canada, with the opening of a gravure facility just outside Toronto.

In 1995, SGS entered the growing flexographic market with the acquisition of Wilson Engraving Company. In 1998, SGS further expanded within North America by opening a graphics facility in Mexico City, Mexico. In November 2005, SGS acquired MCG Graphics Limited, a UK-based provider of prepress graphics and flexographic image carriers.