Sealed Air Acquires Alga Plastics

Originally Published MPMN October 2007

NEED TO KNOW

Sealed Air Acquires Alga Plastics

Sealed Air Corp. (Elmwood Park, NJ; www.sealedair.com), a supplier of protective packaging products and inventor of Bubble Wrap, has completed the acquisition of Alga Plastics (Cranston, RI; www.alga.com), a provider of custom packaging services.

The decision to purchase Alga stemmed from Sealed Air’s desire to expand its presence in medical device packaging while increasing its industry presence. “Two of the global trends driving Sealed Air’s medical applications business are advancements in medical technology and a greater focus on safety and hygiene in healthcare,” says William V. Hickey, president and CEO of Sealed Air. “This acquisition will enhance our relationship with U.S. customers, and better positions Sealed Air to capitalize on the demand for more-sophisticated healthcare packaging solutions from suppliers with global footprints.”

In 2006, Sealed Air acquired Nelipak (Galway, Ireland; www.nelipak.com), which offers custom thermoforming services and related packaging products from facilities in Ireland and the Netherlands. Sealed Air plans to combine Alga’s thermoforming capabilities with Nelipak’s resources and its own flexible-film technology to provide medical device OEMs with a range of packaging product and service offerings. Among Sealed Air’s contributions to medical packaging are Cryovac medical films for ostomy pouches and polyolefin films for pharmaceutical bags. The company’s engineered medical films serve as alternatives to PVC and DEHP.

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