Good Natured Products buys Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging

In an all-Canadian deal, bio-based plastic packaging supplier Good Natured Products Inc. has acquired Shepherd Thermoforming & Packaging Inc. for approximately $9.5 million.

The acquisition includes all of Shepherd Thermoforming’s assets, including machinery, molds, and a 42,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Brampton, Ont.

Headquartered in Brampton, Shepherd designs custom packaging including engineering, mold production, and final product manufacturing for both thin gauge and heavy gauge applications. Their customers include several Fortune 500 companies located throughout eastern Canada and the northeast U.S. Shepherd operates six different thermoforming lines as well as two CNC machines at its design, mold manufacturing, testing, and manufacturing facility.

Founded in 2006 and formerly known as Solegear Bioplastic Technologies Inc., Vancouver-based Good Natured Products is a plant-based products and packaging company that designs, produces, and distributes bioplastics for use in packaging and durable product applications. The company changed its name to Good Natured Products in 2017.

“After nearly doubling our revenues in 2019, this transaction marks another significant milestone in the company’s growth trajectory,” Paul Antoniadis, CEO of Good Natured, said in a statement. “The acquisition enables us to increase our production capacity and expand our plant-based packaging assortment to meet the needs of more customers…[and allows us to] expand on the development of custom packaging solutions, one of our largest growth sectors, our production capacity and assortment has now increased significantly.”

The strategic location of Shepherd’s facility also provides Good Natured Products with a strong and easily accessible entry point into Ontario and eastern Canada, as well as the northeastern U.S., Antoniadis added.

“We are very excited to partner with Good Natured Products and continue the legacy of our business that was started in 1984 by our father Barry Shepherd,” said Shepherd Thermoforming president Todd Shepherd.“Our customers are increasingly requesting plant-based alternatives, so joining together with [them], as we have on several projects over the past four to five years, will accelerate our ability to meet this growing demand.”

The transaction is expected to close by April 30, 2020.