IN Brief:
- Butterfly Equity has agreed to acquire Sabert Holding Corp for undisclosed terms, subject to customary closing conditions.
- Sabert operates 13 manufacturing facilities and produces plastic, paper, paperboard, and moulded fibre food packaging.
- Founder Albert Salama will retain a minority investment after closing, with completion expected during the fourth quarter.
Butterfly Equity has agreed to acquire Sabert Holding Corp, adding a 13-factory food packaging manufacturer to a portfolio already spanning several parts of the food and beverage supply chain.
Financial terms have not been disclosed, and the transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions. Completion is expected during the fourth quarter of 2026. Sabert founder and executive chairman Albert Salama will retain a meaningful minority investment after closing, while the existing management team is expected to remain in place.
Sabert was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Sayreville, New Jersey. The company employs around 3,000 people and manufactures food packaging across plastics, paper, paperboard, and moulded fibre. Its 13 manufacturing facilities include nine in the United States, with further production in Belgium, England, Poland, and China.
The group supplies foodservice distributors, supermarkets, grocery retailers, restaurants, quick service chains, fresh protein processors, and other food manufacturers. Its production base covers rigid containers, trays, fibre formats, and paperboard products, placing the business across several material systems rather than a single packaging segment.
Sabert has also expanded through acquisition. Its purchase of UK paperboard manufacturer Colpac added a second English manufacturing operation to an existing European network that includes Belgium and Poland. The business has since brought those capabilities together in an European portfolio of more than 800 SKUs spanning pulp, paperboard, plastics, food-to-go formats, and modified atmosphere packaging applications.
Butterfly is buying a physical manufacturing platform rather than a brand portfolio that can be separated from its plants. Sabert’s value depends on converting equipment, tooling, product engineering, process control, and the ability to manufacture high volumes to food industry specifications. The acquisition announcement points to more than 400 product patents alongside dedicated research, tooling, and innovation capabilities.
Food packaging plants also have to manage requirements that extend beyond shape and material choice. Packs must work with denesting, filling, gas flushing, sealing, coding, inspection, case packing, and transport systems while meeting food contact rules and the customer’s shelf life targets. Dimensional variation or a change in surface behaviour can reduce line speed even when the material remains technically compliant.
Sabert’s material mix gives the enlarged group exposure to the continuing shift in packaging specifications as customers balance recyclability, recycled content, fibre substitution, material reduction, product protection, and regulation. The company manufactures across resin, pulp, and paper based substrates, so customer requests to change material family can affect several plants, toolsets, and supply chains rather than one converting line.
That breadth can also support processors comparing alternatives for the same application. A fresh protein tray, prepared meal container, or food-to-go pack is rarely specified on sustainability criteria alone. Seal integrity, rigidity, barrier performance, temperature tolerance, machine compatibility, storage efficiency, and product waste all remain part of the decision.
Butterfly already owns digitally printed flexible packaging producer ePac, giving it a second substantial packaging platform serving consumer packaged goods and food businesses. Sabert adds rigid and fibre based formats, together with a much larger network of food packaging manufacturing assets. The two businesses have different processes and product structures, and no integration programme between them has been announced.
There is also no disclosed plant consolidation plan or capital expenditure programme attached to the transaction. Sabert’s existing management and factories remain the operating base, with founder continuity through Salama’s retained investment. Any future changes to production, sourcing, or site roles will therefore need to be assessed against specific investment and customer decisions rather than inferred from the ownership change.
Continuity is important because food manufacturers qualify packaging against equipment, recipes, storage conditions, transport, and shelf life. Moving a format between plants, changing material, or altering tooling can require fresh line trials and technical approval. A private equity owner seeking faster growth still has to preserve that qualification work while adding capacity or changing the manufacturing network.
Sabert’s recent investment record shows the scale of the platform Butterfly is acquiring. The company has continued adding product development capability and distribution infrastructure, including a 300,000 sq ft distribution centre in Georgia opened in August. It also operates recycling capability through Nuvida, giving part of its resin portfolio access to food grade post consumer recycled material.
The proposed acquisition remains subject to closing, so Sabert continues under its current ownership until completion. Once the transaction closes, Butterfly will control a packaging manufacturer with plants across North America, Europe, and Asia and exposure to plastic, fibre, and paperboard formats. The industrial test will be whether new ownership can fund growth without disturbing the manufacturing and qualification systems that keep those packs running on customers’ food production lines.
