A newly formed Florida company announced that it has acquired four drum reconditioning businesses to become the second-largest industrial container service provider in the United States. The company, American Container Net Inc., said it is also negotiating to buy three other firms and aims to develop a national network.
Based in Winter Garden, Fla., American Container announced June 8 that it was formed by the acquisition of East Coast Container Corp., of Matthews, N.C.; Bakerstown Container Corp., of Bakerstown, Pa.; Cleveland Industrial Drum Service Inc., of Cleveland; and New England Container Co., of Smithfield, R.I. In addition, the new company also opened a sales and distribution center in Columbus, Ohio.
With seven facilities from Rhode Island to Virginia and Ohio, officials said American Container ranks behind only Industrial Container Services, of Montebella, Calif., among U.S. providers of industrial container services. American Container collects, reconditions and rebuilds steel drums and collects and distributes plastic and composite drums. Approximately one-fourth of its sales are to the lubricant industry, making it one of the largest providers serving that market.
An official told Lube Report yesterday that the company is currently negotiating with three more potential acquisition targets that would extend its network westward toward the Mississippi. Sales and Marketing Vice President Larry Porter said American Container plans to spread across the country. He and others said the company expects to be more successful than PalEx, a venture formed by the merger of several regional drum firms in the 1990s. PalEx was later sold to the German firm IFCO Systems and subsequently bought by ICS.
Experiences over the last few years have shown that consolidation can be difficult, President and Chief Executive Officer J. Michael Murphy said in the companys June 8 news release. However, it has been done in other industries, and we believe that – with the right approach to customers and, above all, our own employees – it can be done in ours.