Jun 15, 2022   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Syracuse Label & Surround Printing, Macaran Printed Products and W.N. Van Alstine Announce Merger

Syracuse Label & Surround Printing, Macaran Printed Products and W.N. Van Alstine, have announced a merger.

The new organization will provide enhanced development and manufacturing capabilities, incorporating state-of-the-art label technologies along with improved economies of scale. The new business will be led by industry veterans Nick Van Alstine (Macaran / Van Alstine) and Kathy Alaimo (Syracuse) operating as co-CEOs, with Tom Sargent as President.

“I have known Nick Van Alstine, and we’ve been friendly competitors for over 20 years,” said Kathy Alaimo. “This friendship and mutual trust evolved into a conversation about how similar our companies were, and what an exciting opportunity we had to support future growth for our employee-owners,” she added.

What is Driving this Merger
The merger brings together three strong, industry leading label and packaging companies who share common cultures, common cause and common goals. Both companies are 100% employee-owned, each with rich corporate legacies. Driven by industry consolidation, both organizations found themselves in similar circumstances as the competitive landscape has shifted around them. The merger will create an organization with greater scale, capacity and capability, bringing additional value to the customers and markets it serves.

“This is a great fit for our businesses. This merger is all about our shared values; preserving corporate legacies, creating value for our employee-owners and becoming more competitive in the marketplace,” said Nick Van Alstine.

Better Together
The merger will create a new organization with 3 facilities, 165,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space, 175 full-time employee owners and $65M in sales. It also brings together a C-suite team with decades of proven industry experience including:

  • Kathy Alaimo – Co-CEO
  • Nick Van Alstine – Co-CEO
  • Tom Sargent - President
  • Gary Riley – President, W.N. Van Alstine
  • Dan Rosenbaum – Chief Financial Officer
  • Paul Roux – Chief Technical Officer
  • Thomas Faugno – Chief Sales Officer
  • Nick Noyes – Chief Operating Officer

A Win for Customers
“The merger creates a tremendous opportunity for us to better serve our customers,” said Nick Van Alstine. “The new organization will be better positioned to compete through intellectual property, innovation, press technology, operational efficiency and overall scale,” he added.

The W.N. Van Alstine team brings strategic expertise to the new organization as well. “With our experience, we can work with customers to provide leading-edge, 'end of line' packaging equipment, systems and related materials,” said Gary Riley, Sr, President, W.N. Van Alstine. “This knowledge helps round out our full-service offering, solidifying our stance as custodians of their brand,” he added.

Employee Owners
A critical aspect of the merger is the continued development and support of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

“The ESOP is an incredibly powerful and supportive culture,” said Alaimo. “It gives all employee-owners a voice, as well as an opportunity to benefit from the organization’s continued growth,” she added. “We are thrilled to be able to continue this ownership structure along with Syracuse Label,” added Van Alstine.

Moving Forward
Customers will not see any changes to the day-to-day operations. All sales, service, accounting procedures, contacts and contracts will remain intact, and all divisions will continue to use their branded visual identities and logos.

In addition, this announcement is the culmination of a well-planned and orderly succession process to ensure the continued success of all organizations. To that end, effective December 31, 2022 both Kathy Alaimo and Nick Van Alstine will retire and assume roles as Co-Chairs of the Board of Directors. Tom Sargent will assume the CEO position effective January 1, 2023.

About Macaran
Macaran is a third-generation, employee-owned supplier of high-quality label and packaging solutions for the spirits, craft beer, non-alcoholic beverage, health, beauty and medical markets headquartered in Cohoes, NY. For more information please visit www.macaran.com

About W.N. Van Alstine
W.N. Van Alstine & Sons is an employee-owned company and one of 3M’s most valuable distributor partners, supporting some of the region’s most respected companies with leading edge, end-of-line packaging systems, equipment, service and related materials. For more information please visit www.vanalstineinc.com

About Syracuse Label
Syracuse Label is an employee-owned company and one of the largest and most versatile label converters in the Northeast. We offer digital and flexographic printing solutions with a product portfolio that includes Flexible Packaging, Shrink Sleeves, Pressure Sensitive Labels, Cartons, Hang Tags, Roll-Fed Wrap Labels, and other custom-made printed products. For more information please visit www.syrlsp.com