RHONE CAPITAL takes majority stake in PARAGON FILMS

Rhône Group agreed in November 2021 to acquire Paragon Films, the North American manufacturer of high-performance stretch films, from Wellspring Capital Management, and completed the transaction on 23 December. It was a secondary buyout, the third change of private equity owner for the company, which Wind Point Partners had held until 2019 and Wellspring since. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Paragon made cast stretch film used to hold palletised loads together in storage and transit, selling to packaging distributors and to customers in e-commerce and consumer goods. At the time of the deal it generated revenue of $250–500M and ran manufacturing plants in Oklahoma, North Carolina and Washington state. Under Wellspring, the company had invested in the development of sustainable films and strengthened its position in the high-performance segment of the market, according to managing partner Matthew Harrison. The management team stayed on under the new owner. Baird and Rothschild & Co acted as financial advisers to Paragon, with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as legal counsel to Wellspring. Under Rhône, Paragon expanded its Taylorsville plant in North Carolina and moved into shrink film through the purchase of the Mexican producer Xpack Films, before being sold to Atlantic Ridge Capital in October 2026.