Mason Wells Newsletter 2018 – Volume 3

• Mason Wells Acquires EastPoint Sports Ltd., LLC
• Mason Wells Announces the Sale of Pacon Corporation
• AWT Labels & Packaging Acquires Citation Healthcare Labels, LLC
• L.B. White Company, LLC wins the Title of “Best Portable Tent Heater”
• Nelipak CEO Mike Kelly E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award Finalist
• Paragon Development Systems Ranks Highly as a Business Partner

On August 22, 2018, Mason Wells closed on the acquisition of EastPoint Sports Ltd., LLC. EastPoint, a leading supplier of indoor and outdoor recreational sporting goods, was founded in 2009 by Mike Nally, a long-time sporting goods industry veteran. The Company is the fourth investment for Mason Wells Buyout Fund IV.

EastPoint develops, imports, and markets recreational sporting goods sold through retail and e-commerce channels in North America. Product categories include tailgate games, lawn games, sport games, indoor game accessories, and table games. Specific products include bean bag toss, table tennis, volleyball and badminton nets, and indoor basketball hoops. EastPoint markets its products under owned and licensed brands, including Go! Gater, Majik, Rec-Tek, Classic Sport, Narwhal, NHL, HEAD, and PENN. The Company is headquartered in Succasunna, New Jersey, has an office in Shanghai, China, and occupies third-party warehouses in California and Ontario, Canada.

“We are very excited about our new partnership with Mason Wells,” said Mr. Nally, President and Chief Executive Officer of EastPoint. “Their experience successfully building consumer products companies will provide EastPoint with the resources necessary to support our long-term growth initiatives.”

EastPoint’s strong management team and employees will all remain with the business, with Mr. Nally continuing as Chief Executive Officer. The Company will continue to leverage its unique sourcing infrastructure and innovative product development capabilities to expand EastPoint’s retail and e-commerce relationships and develop new products.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.eastpointsports.com.

Mason Wells recently announced the closing of the sale of Pacon Corporation, a Mason Wells Buyout Fund III portfolio company, to Fabbrica Italiana Lapis ed Affini S.p.A. (“F.I.L.A.”). The transaction closed on June 7, 2018.

Based in Appleton, Wisconsin, Pacon is a leading provider of branded arts & crafts and specialty paper products for the school, retail, and online channels.

“We are very proud of the success Pacon has achieved during our ownership period,” said Tom Smith, Executive Managing Director of Mason Wells. “During that time, we transitioned the Company from family ownership and made investments in the existing operations as well as strategic acquisitions. We completed five tuck-in acquisitions, which helped the Company expand its geographic coverage, product categories, and brand portfolio. We are very pleased to know the Company and team will continue to thrive as part of the F.I.L.A. organization.”

“The partnership of the Pacon team with Mason Wells over the past several years clearly transformed the business to a new level,” said Jim Schmitz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacon. “Through the development and execution of a refined long-term marketing and growth strategy in combination with five strategic acquisitions that included expansions into new markets and adjacent product categories, the Company is well positioned for continued success in the future. In addition, Mason Wells brought disciplined processes and resources that allowed the business to reinvest in new capital projects including the purchase and implementation of SAP. We are excited about entering the next Pacon chapter in a new partnership with F.I.L.A. who will capture the benefits of the past seven years of work for many years to come. I want to personally thank the Mason Wells team, who we consider friends and mentors, for their unwavering support.”

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.pacon.com.

On August 17, 2018, AWT Labels & Packaging, a Mason Wells Buyout Fund III portfolio company, announced that it has closed on the acquisition of Citation Clinical Labeling Systems, a global leader in clinical labeling since 1963, based in Hauppauge, New York. The business will operate under the name of Citation Healthcare Labels, LLC.

Citation provides clinical trial labels for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, clinical research organizations, and clinical packagers. The Company’s products serve mission-critical applications by ensuring the accuracy and effectiveness of trials, improving participant safety, and helping customers introduce drugs to the market more efficiently. Citation provides world-class product quality, project management, customer service, and speed to market, which are imperative characteristics for pharmaceutical customers.

This acquisition strengthens AWT’s commitment to the global healthcare labeling market and will allow AWT to take advantage of growth opportunities in the clinical trial label markets. For Citation customers, they will now have access to AWT’s resources and investments in state-of-the-art print and production technologies as well as access to AWT’s Minneapolis, Minnesota facility for additional healthcare label capabilities.

Citation was founded in 1963 by the family of Richard Bolnick as a diversified distributor of printing and labels. The Company currently operates out of a single pharmaceutical and medical grade facility in Hauppauge, New York, and employs approximately 100 people. The employees and suppliers of Citation have played an integral role in the company’s success and will continue to do so in the future. Mr. Bolnick, President of Citation, and Frederick Youngs, Chief Operating Officer of Citation, will continue in leadership roles with the Company.

“Citation looks forward to the next chapter of growth by joining the AWT organization.  Citation and AWT share many of the same philosophies including providing our customers with a world-class experience, a commitment to healthcare labeling and quality systems, the development of our employees, and continually investing in state-of-the-art equipment,” said Mr. Bolnick. “We believe the best is yet to come for our customers as they will benefit from additional facilities, personnel, and resources of the combined businesses.”

“We are excited about our acquisition of Citation. Mr. Bolnick and Mr. Youngs have spent many years building a great company with outstanding people and tremendous capabilities, and we proudly welcome the Citation team to AWT,” said Jim Lundquist, President and Chief Executive Officer of AWT. “We will leverage the unique capabilities of both organizations to continue to serve our customers with world-class quality and excellent service. The addition of Citation meaningfully increases our healthcare labeling capabilities and allows AWT to become one of the largest healthcare-focused label providers for pharmaceutical clinical trial and medical device manufacturers in the United States.”

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.awtlabelpack.com.

To celebrate its 25-year anniversary, InTents magazine asked its readers to vote for the best of the best in 25 event tent industry categories. The winners were announced on April 1, 2018, and L.B. White’s Premier portable heaters won the “Best Portable Tent Heater” category. The Premier’s clean look, quiet operation, and fuel-efficient direct-fired design were noted as key differentiators.

Premier portable heaters can be used to provide temporary heat or simple air circulation. They can be used either inside or outside a tent, with the use of air ducting accessories. Premier tent heaters are designed to withstand extreme outdoor environments, contributing to L.B. White’s reputation for reliability, durability, and serviceability in the field.

L.B. White, a Mason Wells Buyout Fund IV portfolio company headquartered in Onalaska, Wisconsin, is a manufacturer of branded HVAC equipment and parts for the global swine, poultry, and construction markets.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.lbwhite.com.

On June 4, 2018, Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y) announced that Mike Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nelipak Healthcare Packaging, a Mason Wells Buyout Fund III portfolio company, and global provider of custom thermoformed packaging that provides protection for medical devices and pharmaceuticals, is a finalist for the Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 Award in the New England region. The award recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Mr. Kelly was selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges. Now in its 32nd year, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities and more than 60 countries throughout the world.

“It is an honor to be a finalist for this prestigious award,” said Mr. Kelly. “Nelipak is proud of our long history of developing innovative medical packaging solutions for our medical device and pharmaceutical customers. We have a strong team at Nelipak, and this recognition is a testament to their hard work and commitment to our customers.”

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur of the Year National competition. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur of the Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the Entrepreneur of the Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 10, 2018.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.nelipak.com.

Paragon Development Systems, a Mason Wells Buyout Fund III portfolio company headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, has been recently recognized as a strong, highly ranked business partner among employers in a variety of industries throughout Wisconsin.

The Company specializes in providing a variety of industry-specific IT solutions to clients in the Healthcare, Corporate, Government, and Education industry sectors. PDS is a strategic, value-added partner that helps organizations reduce risk and total cost of ownership.

This recognition was announced in the August 2018, InBusiness: Greater Madison magazine article “Profiles in Technology.”  PDS ranked second out of 20 IT providers. “This achievement is a powerful testimonial to all PDS employees who, as a team, work with these organizations, their staff, and their customers, serving them with unprecedented dedication and trusted IT products and solutions,” stated Lance Wand, Marketing Director for PDS. He continued to state “We are very proud and truly grateful for this recognition and top-notch ranking as we continue to improve and expand our products and services to hard-working businesses within the industries we serve in Wisconsin, the Midwest, and beyond.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.pdsit.com.