News

May 2021

Bruce Hanson named Chief Executive Officer of AWT Labels & Packaging

Minneapolis, MN May 18, 2021 – AWT Labels & Packaging’s Board of Directors today announced Bruce Hanson will be joining the company as CEO effective immediately.  During his 25-year career, Bruce has held numerous strategic leadership roles at RR Donnelley, most recently as President of the Labels and Forms Business Unit.

“I am thrilled to be joining the exceptional team at AWT and grateful to find shared core values that focus on the customer, employees and shareholders,” said Hanson. “AWT’s reputation as an innovative, customer centric organization has led to tremendous growth over its long history, and I’m eager to build upon that strong heritage by broadening value for our clients.”

AWT is consistently recognized by industry organizations with awards for print quality and leadership. Recently, AWT was named “Supplier of the Year” by one of the company’s numerous Fortune 500 clients. Additionally, in 2020, AWT was the recipient of the Tag and Label Manufacturing Institute’s “Calvin Frost Environmental Leadership Award” for sustainable products and initiatives.

“Bruce’s outstanding track record and team-based leadership style will be an excellent fit with the AWT leadership team.” said Eric Kanter, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners.” His background in Healthcare and Labels uniquely qualifies him to immediately impact the strategic path for AWT and unlock the integrated solutions current and future customers will enjoy.  Bruce’s character, vision and commitment to delivering value to customers will serve the company well as we take the organization into the next stage of growth.”

Michelle Zeller, President of AWT Labels & Packaging said, “Bruce will be a great partner for the AWT team and joins at an exciting time for the company as we continue to experience rapid growth and further deepen our strategic value and enhanced client experience. We are excited for him to join our organization.”

About AWT Labels & Packaging

For over 40 years, AWT Labels & Packaging has been providing high-quality labels and flexible packaging solutions for a diverse set of markets including healthcare, food and beverage, personal care, household, and OEM/industrial.  AWT retains long-standing relationships with some of the most recognized brands and companies in the world by providing superior quality, unrivaled customer service, state-of-the art color management, and cutting-edge technical design capabilities. With approximately 300 employees, AWT operates three facilities, including the headquarters in Minneapolis, MN focused primarily on label converting (with some flexible packaging); a flexible packaging plant in South Elgin, IL; and Citation Healthcare Labels, a manufacturer and supplier of pharmaceutical labels used in clinical trials in Long Island, NY. For more information, please visit our website www.awtlabelpack.com .

About Morgan Stanley Capital Partners

Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, is a leading middle-market private equity platform that has invested capital in a broad spectrum of industries for over three decades. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners focuses on privately negotiated equity and equity-related investments primarily in North America and seeks to create value in portfolio companies primarily in a series of subsectors in the business services, consumer, healthcare and industrials markets with an emphasis on driving significant organic and acquisition growth through an operationally focused approach. For further information about Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, please visit www.morganstanley.com/im/capitalpartners.

December 2020

Morgan Stanley Capital Partners Completes Investment in AWT Labels & Packaging

MINNEAPOLIS December 18th, 2020 – Advanced Web Technologies Holding Company, which operates as AWT Labels & Packaging and Citation Healthcare Labels, announced today that Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (MSCP), the middle-market focused private equity team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management headquartered in New York, NY, completed an investment in AWT from Mason Wells, a Midwest-based private equity firm.

“We are thrilled to partner with Morgan Stanley Capital Partners as we enter our next phase of growth,” said Michelle Zeller, President of AWT Labels & Packaging. “With MSCP’s support, expertise, deep industry knowledge and network in packaging, we plan to expand our current capabilities and geographic footprint while continuing to provide the highest quality products to our customers.”

Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, AWT is a leading provider of labels and flexible packaging solutions focused on healthcare, personal care, food & beverage, household, and OEM/ Industrial end markets. Founded in 1976, AWT operates out of three facilities in the U.S. and holds a top three market position in the medical device labels and clinical trials labels segments. Through its innovative product design approach and swift speed-to-market, AWT helps customers address mission-critical application needs.

Eric Kanter, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners said, “We are excited to partner with AWT and its talented management team. The team has built a phenomenal platform that serves attractive, defensive end markets with best-in-class R&D capabilities. We look forward to building upon the Company’s prior success by investing in assets, capabilities and the management team and continuing to deliver innovative packaging solutions through organic initiatives and acquisitions.” Kanter will become Chairman of AWT as part of the transaction.

About Morgan Stanley Capital Partners

Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, is a leading middle-market private equity platform that has invested capital in a broad spectrum of industries for over three decades. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners focuses on privately negotiated equity and equity-related investments primarily in North America and seeks to create value in portfolio companies primarily in a series of subsectors in the business services, consumer, healthcare, and industrial markets with an emphasis on driving significant organic and acquisition growth through an operationally focused approach. For further information about Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, please visit www.morganstanley.com/im/capitalpartners.