Standard & Poor’s rating service revealed the move in late July and said the newly-created company would be called Prolampac.
Wellspring did not reveal the name of the combined company but said it will be headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and have a strategic geographical footprint.
The company with have more than 2,000 team members and 16 facilities worldwide.
Ampac's range of adhesive lamination, rotogravure printing capabilities and packaging is complementary to Prolamina's extrusion lamination and flexographic printing technology, it said.
Standard & Poor analysis
"Prolampac Intermediate Inc. will operate in the highly fragmented and competitive flexible packaging industry," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Jaissy Lorenzo.
S&P said with pro forma revenues of nearly $700m for the last 12 months ended June 30, 2015, Prolampac is a midsize company and has some moderate customer concentrations, with its largest customer accounting for about 7% of combined sales. The company is also exposed to volatile raw material costs.
These factors are partially offset by long-standing and mostly contractual relationships with its well-established customers, its exposure to the relatively stable food, consumer products, and medical end markets, and its good market positions in certain industry niches.
Bringing together Ampac and Prolamina
John E. Morningstar, a managing partner of Wellspring who leads activities in the packaging sector, said it was excited about the acquisition of Ampac and combination with Prolamina.
“The merger brings together two flexible packing industry leaders both known for innovation, customer service and quality.
“Both companies, along with their respective management teams, have a proven track record of performance and will pursue a variety of new initiatives to further enhance their product offerings — adding value to their customers' bottom line and increasing market opportunities."
Matthew Harrison, a principal of Wellspring, said the acquisition and the combination reflects the attractiveness of the global packaging industry.
“We believe there is increasing growth potential in the sector given the shift towards flexible packaging solutions driven by shifting consumer demands.
“We've been pleased to invest in this industry over the past several years and are excited to increase our participation through this expanded platform, which will serve broad and diverse markets."
Greg Tucker, CEO of Prolamina, will be CEO for the merged company.
"The combination of Prolamina and Ampac's complementary capabilities and assets will enable the combined company to reach new levels of success, establishing it as a leader in the global packaging industry. “
- The name for the firm was revealed in November to be: ProAmpac.