Preferred Packaging Partners invests $8.5M in Matlet Group

GARY STIFFLER, CEO of The Matlet Group, said that a new $8.5 million equity investment by Preferred Packaging Partners will allow the company to purchase new equipment and expand its business in Rhode Island. / COURTESY THE MATLET GROUP
GARY STIFFLER, CEO of The Matlet Group, said that a new $8.5 million equity investment by Preferred Packaging Partners will allow the company to purchase new equipment and expand its business in Rhode Island. / COURTESY THE MATLET GROUP

PAWTUCKET – Matlet Group LLC, a packaging, printing and marketing company, announced Wednesday that Preferred Packaging Partners LLC of Providence has made an $8.5 million equity investment in the company.

The announcement also included news of The Matlet Group’s recapitalizing and refinancing of its senior- and mezzanine-level indebtedness with Bank of America and Boston-based Seacoast Capital Partners.

“Closing this agreement with Preferred Packaging Partners and our new lenders, Bank of America and Seacoast Capital Partners, finally gives The Matlet Group a clear runway to grow substantially,” said Gary Stiffler, CEO of Matlet Group. “Here in Rhode Island, this new investment secures the employment of our 220 current employees and affords us the opportunity to expand.”

In addition to Packaging Graphics LLC, its manufacturing company based in Pawtucket, The Matlet Group owns Central Florida Press LLC in Orlando and NOVA Marketing Services LLC – a direct mail, inventory management and fulfillment company – in St. Louis. Nearly half of The Matlet Group’s 450 employees are based in Rhode Island.

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Stiffler said that the new capital afforded by the Preferred Packaging Partners investment will allow The Matlet group to purchase new equipment and, over the next few years, hire additional employees.

Preferred Packaging Partners, a sponsor of mid-market private equity opportunities in the analog and digital packaging industry, does not own a controlling share of The Matlet Group, Stiffler said.

“Having worked with Gary Stiffler and The Matlet Group management team as an adviser since late 2008, I witnessed the resiliency of the business through the most recent recession,” said Mike Sweeney, managing member of Preferred Packaging Partners, in a statement. “In buying out all existing nonmanagement investors, we allowed these key managers the chance to own the majority of the common equity and align their interests with a flexible, patient capital provider that understands the growth plan and opportunities.”

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