Hillebrand acquires Flexitank company

Hillebrand acquires Flexitank company JF Hillebrand Group, a German company which is the world’s leading forwarder of alcoholic beverages, is getting into the wine box business — really, really large wine boxes.
   Thursday Hillebrand said it has closed on a deal to acquire Trans Ocean Distribution Ltd., a U.K.-based company that is the world's largest flexitank operator.
   Flexitanks disposable plastic liners are placed inside of 20-foot shipping containers and used to move liquid products such as chemicals, industrial oils, food oils, latex and, yes, wine. There are a variety of liner types that are matched to the products they transport.
   Details of the transaction were not revealed.
   Hillebrand has a fleet of    metal tank containers for moving alcoholic products in bulk, so the deal will be “highly complementary,” says Jonathan Adams, head of the transportation and logistics practice at Houlihan Lokey, the company that advised Trans Ocean and helped it structure and negotiate the transaction.
   It will also expand Hillebrand into new areas, such as transport of edible oils and industrial products. Flexitanks are also used to transport flowable dry bulk products such as powders and plastic pellets.
   Adams credits the company’s management team at Trans Ocean, headed by Brendan McKenna, chief executive officer, with doing “a superb job of transitioning their business into much more of a supply chain management business” moving bulk liquids for both wine and spirits businesses and chemical companies from door to door'for example from a winery in Europe to a bottling plant in the United States.
   Management at Trans Ocean will remain with the company. In the United States, Hillebrand is based in Rahway, N.J., while Trans Ocean is in Houston.