Butterfly Equity Agrees to Acquire Food Packaging Maker Sabert

Butterfly Equity has agreed to acquire Sabert, the Sayreville, New Jersey-based maker of food packaging and hot and cold food service products, in a deal the Los Angeles private equity firm announced Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed. The parties expect the transaction to close in the fourth quarter.

The acquisition extends Butterfly's stated strategy of investing in "businesses that power the evolving food and beverage segment, including packaging." It is the firm's second packaging deal this year: Butterfly acquired ePac, a digitally printed flexible packaging specialist, in January.

Albert Salama, Sabert's founder and executive chairman, will remain a minority investor after the deal closes, according to the announcement.

A category leader with 3,000 employees

Butterfly's leadership framed the purchase as a bet on a scaled player in food service packaging. "Sabert is exactly the type of business we look for at Butterfly: a category-leading player with deep roots across the food ecosystem, differentiated capabilities and tremendous opportunities for continued growth," Adam Waglay, co-founder, CEO and managing partner at Butterfly, said in a statement.

The privately held company was founded in 1983 and reports roughly 3,000 employees today. Its product range spans plastic, paper and molded fiber, serving grocery, restaurant and other food and beverage customers.

Sabert operates 13 manufacturing facilities globally, including nine in the U.S. The company grew through its acquisition of U.K.-based Colpac last year.

Supply chain buildout continues

Last month, Sabert opened its fifth U.S. distribution center, in Georgia, which the company called "one of the company's most significant recent supply chain investments." The new facility signals that the packaging maker has kept investing in domestic logistics capacity ahead of the ownership change.

Sabert also has a stake in recycled materials. In 2012, the company established Nuvida, a recycling facility in New Jersey. Last year, Nuvida received the Association of Plastic Recyclers' PCR Certification for its full range of recycled resins.

This year, Sabert set a new 2030 sustainability target: 85% of its net sales must come from products that are recyclable, compostable or reusable, with claims backed by third-party certifications or industry-recognized guidelines.

Butterfly expands its footprint

The Sabert deal marks another step in Butterfly's broader expansion. The firm recently opened a New York City office, adding an East Coast hub to its Los Angeles base.

With ePac in flexible packaging and now Sabert in rigid and molded fiber food service products, Butterfly has assembled two platforms that touch distinct parts of the food packaging value chain. The fourth-quarter close will determine how quickly the firm can press its growth thesis for Sabert, whose 2030 sustainability target and expanding U.S. distribution network give the new owner both a mandate and the infrastructure to scale.