As the year comes to a close, the merger of two of the world’s largest nonwovens producers continues to be one of the top stories of the year. Last month, after months of preparation, Berry Global’s Health, Hygiene and Specialties Global Nonwovens and Films (HHNF) business and Glatfelter Corporation combined their businesses to form the largest maker of nonwovens in the world, a company that is now known as Magnera.

The two companies first announced in February they would merge, capping off months of speculation over the fate of Berry’s nonwovens business—Berry had announced the prior year it was looking for strategic alternatives to the business. This merger creates a nonwovens power house with 45 manufacturing sites globally, spanning a range of nonwovens and nonwovens-adjacent technologies focused strongly on healthcare, hygiene, wipes and specialty end markets, and a reported $3.6 billion in combined nonwovens sales.

Berry’s reasons for spinning off the business were simple. Nonwovens didn’t really sync as squarely with the rest of its business as the group expected before its 2015 acquisition. The investments in nonwovens are too large and the market too cyclical when compared to its heritage packaging business (an asset that was subsequently merged with a large packaging conglomerate not long after the HHNF spin-off) making forecasting across the total company difficult.

The fact that these two businesses are no strangers to merger and acquisition activity cannot be overstated. Both companies can credit ambitious acquisition activity to their leadership positions in nonwovens. Berry (formerly known as Avintiv and before that Polymer Group Inc.), was formed through the union of smaller producers like Chicopee and Scott Nonwovens in the 1990s and climbed up the ranks of the largest nonwovens players in the 2000s and 2010s by adding such companies as Companhia Providencia, Dounor and Fiberweb. Glatfelter, meanwhile entered the airlaid market more than a decade ago when it purchased Concert Industries and later became the leading producer of the technology when it acquired Georgia-Pacific’s North American and European businesses. In 2020, the company diversified into spunlace and added a couple hundred million dollars in sales to its bottom line when it bought Jacob Holm Industries.

Now that the deal is done and Magnera is officially the largest nonwovens producer on the planet, the industry will wait to see how this powerhouse performs. Both companies have been public about their past struggles but are confident that their complementary focus on sustainable fiber-based products and polymer-based materials will benefit each of their businesses. Or, as Curt Begel, a former Berry exec and the new CEO of Magnera said, “What each of the companies longed for and didn’t have, we now have and it’s creating an opportunity to bring more solutions to our customers.”

Time will tell if Berry and Glatfelter have found what they are looking for.

Karen McIntyre
Editor
[email protected]