Wind Point acquires Paragon Films

Wind Point Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, has acquired Paragon Films, the Oklahoma (USA) based manufacturer of high performance cast stretch films that are principally used to unitise loads while in storage and transit. The company operates three manufacturing facilities in the US at Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Washington.

Paragon Films was founded in 1988 by industry pioneer, Mike Baab, who is highly regarded for his focus on producing technologically advanced stretch films, most notably the ability to provide higher performing load containment through thinner gauged films. Baab will remain a significant investor and Paragon board member.

Mike Baab, stated, “Wind Point is the perfect fit with Paragon’s culture and core values. This partnership will provide Paragon with the opportunity to pursue tremendous growth and will benefit our customers and employees which was my most important goal as I begin to transition into retirement. I am thankful that Wind Point will allow Paragon to continue its vision and goals.”

Additionally, Wind Point is partnering with Stan Bikulege who will serve as a non-executive chairman and board member and Darin Tang who will join Paragon as CEO. Stan is a Wind Point advisor and the current chairman and CEO of Novolex, a manufacturer of flexible paper and plastic packaging products. Wind Point invested in Hilex Poly (Novolex’s predecessor) in 2012 and under Stan’s leadership grew the company from $ 500 million to over $ 2 billion in revenue. Darin Tang was most recently senior vice president of strategic packaging solutions ($2.8 billion) at Veritiv, a leading North American paper and packaging distributor. 

Wind Point is an active investor in the packaging industry. Select recent investments include Burrows Paper, Heritage Bag (2016), Wisconsin Film & Bag (2015), Duro Bag (2014), and Packaging Dynamics (2014).