The Deal
Canworks, a direct-to-aluminum-can digital printer serving the beverage industry, has been acquired by Mason Wells, a Milwaukee-based private equity firm that has raised $2.4 billion across five buyout funds. Mesirow Investment Banking served as exclusive financial advisor to Canworks in the transaction. Terms were not disclosed.
Why It Matters for Beverage
Founded in 2020 by brothers Ryan and Marshall Thompson, Canworks has built a five-facility national footprint — operating in Texas, Georgia, California, Missouri, and Connecticut — in just six years. The company's model targets high-growth beverage segments including energy drinks, ready-to-drink cocktails, seltzers, craft beer, CBD and cannabis beverages, kombucha, and hydration products. Its value proposition centers on short-run flexibility, fast turnaround, and premium graphic design — capabilities that matter acutely to emerging beverage brands that cannot commit to minimum-order requirements typical of large-scale can decorators. For operators and co-packers sourcing differentiated packaging for limited-time offerings or regional SKUs, that agility carries real unit-economics weight.
The transaction lands at a moment of sustained volume growth in the aluminum beverage can segment. RTD cocktails and hard seltzers have expanded can demand well beyond the craft beer category that originally drove short-run digital printing adoption. As brand proliferation accelerates — particularly in functional and cannabis-adjacent beverages — suppliers capable of handling small batches with premium graphics have moved from novelty to essential infrastructure for emerging brands and their co-manufacturing partners.
Buyer and Outlook
Mason Wells is currently deploying capital from its $767 million Buyout Fund V and has historically concentrated on four sectors: Consumer Packaged Goods, Outsourced Business Services, Engineered Products & Services, and Packaging Materials & Converting. Canworks fits squarely in the last category and aligns with the firm's pattern of backing businesses at growth inflection points. Co-founders Marshall and Ryan Thompson noted in a statement that Mason Wells' experience scaling similar businesses was central to selecting the buyer, suggesting the priority is facility expansion and capacity investment rather than near-term financial engineering.
Rick Weil and Melanie Yermack, Managing Directors and Co-Heads of Packaging at Mesirow Investment Banking, described Canworks as "a fast-growing leader in aluminum can decorating solutions" and said the Mason Wells partnership "sets the stage for meaningful expansion." Mesirow has completed more than 225 packaging transactions over 25 years, making it one of the more active M&A advisors in the segment.
For foodservice operators and beverage brand managers tracking packaging supply chains, the acquisition signals continued private capital interest in short-run, digitally printed can capacity — a supply-side dynamic with direct implications for LTO agility and new-product launch timelines across the RTD and functional beverage categories. Sister coverage on beverage supply-chain consolidation is available at /category/beverage, and analysis of packaging M&A trends in the foodservice channel can be found at /category/mergers-acquisitions.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
