H.I.G. Capital Completes Acquisition of Caraustar

The Miami-based private equity firm H.I.G. Capital has completed the acquisition of the paper company Caraustar Industries, headquartered in Austell, Ga. The paper company was previously majority owned by Wayzata Investment Partners LLC, a private investment firm.

In 2009, Wayzata led a group of bondholders in a pre-packaged Chapter 11 process in which Wayzata-managed funds acquired a majority ownership stake in Caraustar. According to H.I.G., since exiting bankruptcy Caraustar has used its balance sheet to drive operational improvement and increase profitability.

In a release, Mike Patton, CEO of Caraustar, says, "We believe this is an exciting time in our industry, and I am pleased to have H.I.G.'s support to help us achieve our growth plan. We look forward to working with H.I.G. to build upon our reputation as a customer-oriented market leader."

"We are very excited about the Caraustar opportunity," adds Tenno Tsai, a principal of H.I.G. "Caraustar is a market leader with a blue chip customer base, broad geographic footprint and an efficient, high quality manufacturing base. We believe there are numerous market opportunities going forward and we look forward to supporting Mike (Patton) and his team in achieving continued growth."