Avintiv Specialty Materials, formerly known as PGI, reported its net sales increased $17.8 million, or 4%, to $457.7 million in the second quarter of 2015 compared with $439.9 million in the second quarter of 2014. Providência contributed $47.6 million in incremental sales growth. Excluding acquisitions, incremental volume increased net sales by $2.4 million as improvements were realized across all regions except Europe.
 
Continued strong demand in the hygiene, wipes and technical specialties markets enabled North America to mitigate weather impacts in the construction markets and the closure of a manufacturing facility. Improvements in the hygiene markets and a recent manufacturing line upgrade helped provide $2.5 million of incremental sales from volume growth in South America. Currency translation negatively impacted the European segment by $21 million in the second quarter.
 
Volumes sold for the second quarter of 2015 were 130.5 thousand metric tons (kMT), a 28.5 kMT increase compared with the prior year period. The primary driver of the volume increase was related to the acquisition of Providência. North America volume growth was driven by Fiberweb and higher demand in the hygiene, wipes and technical specialties markets. South America benefited from Providência, improved hygiene markets and a manufacturing line upgrade. In Asia, volume growth was driven by higher demand in the hygiene markets. Volume reductions in Europe were driven by the consolidation of its manufacturing facilities in Germany in connection with the exit of the European roofing business during 2014.
 
On July 31, 2015, Avintiv entered into a definitive agreement with Berry Plastics Group, Inc. to acquire the company from private equity funds managed by the Blackstone Group LP for approximately $2.45 billion in cash on a debt-free, cash-free basis. The proposed transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions.
 
Avintiv’s CEO J. Joel Hackney Jr., says, “I am very pleased with our continued strength in our core markets and the integration of our strategic acquisitions. We continued to witness strong progress with our strategic growth initiatives associated with closing the Dounor acquisition during the second quarter. We are clearly realizing strong synergies across the segments as we are executing our global growth strategy. Berry Plastics’ announced acquisition of Avintiv is truly a testament to the strength of our business, our global scale, and our track record of growth and margin enhancement. Berry shares our commitment to developing and delivering high-impact solutions for our customers.”