Stone Canyon Industries, which has deep ties to Michael Milken, continued its role as an active player in the M&A market last week, shelling out $2.3 billion to purchase industrial packaging and container maker Mauser Group.
The Santa Monica firm, which bills itself as a “global industrial holding company,” acquired the Dutch manufacturer through its portfolio company Bway Corp. in an all-cash transaction with private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice. The deal comes less than eight months after Stone Canyon purchased Bway from Platinum Equity of Beverly Hills for $2.4 billion.
Mauser makes a variety of packaging and containers for the chemical, agricultural, and food-and-beverage sectors. The company has 1,400 employees and nearly $1.5 billion in revenue, according to Stone Canyon.
Bway Chief Executive Ken Roessler said in a statement that the Mauser acquisition would help the company on several levels.
“In addition to sales growth, this acquisition expands our product offering with innovative new products which further support the company’s position as the premier supplier for rigid general line packaging,” Roessler said.
Executives at Stone Canyon Industries declined to comment on the deal.
The company has been busy since its founding in 2014. In addition to its recent foray into the industrial packaging space, Stone Canyon also orchestrated a quick turnaround of Cerritos-based SCI Ingredients Holdings Inc., the parent company of Fleischmann’s Vinegar Co. Inc., the world’s largest food-grade vinegar maker. Stone Canyon purchased SCI for an undisclosed amount in January 2015 from RLJ Equity Partners and flipped it to ethanol producer Green Plains Inc. in October for $250 million.
Stone Canyon’s C-suite, including Co-Chief Executive Adam Cohn and President Michael Neumann, is filled with former executives who worked for companies tied to Milken’s Knowledge Universe Education, which sold for an undisclosed amount to Swiss private equity firm Partner Group in 2015. Both Stone Canyon and Milken’s philanthropic organization, the Milken Institute, are headquartered within the same building in Santa Monica.
Milken was not immediately available for comment about his connections to Stone Canyon. Milken’s spokesman, Geoffrey Moore, said in an email that Milken had invested in the firm.
“He is one of a number of passive investors,” Moore said. “Scores of firms invest his assets. He is not involved in their investment decisions, he does not have management control and does not sit on their boards.”
Stone Canyon was advised on the Mauser deal by lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and by bankers at Goldman Sachs & Co.
