INVESTMENT IN EQUITY SECURITIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

Our investment in equity securities consisted of the following:


	March 31, 2021		December 31, 2020
Equity Method Investments:
BTY	$	32,632	$	33,020
Sonmol	5,400		5,598
Kali Care	456		535
Desotec GmbH	897		964

Other Investments:
PureCycle	22,206		5,397
Loop	2,894		2,894
Others	1,617		1,679
	$	66,102	$	50,087

Equity method investments

BTY

On January 1, 2020, we acquired 49% of the equity interests in 3 related companies: Suzhou Hsing Kwang, Suqian Hsing Kwang and Suzhou BTY (collectively referred to as “BTY”) for an approximate purchase price of $32 million. We have a call option to acquire an additional 26% to 31% of BTY’s equity interests following the initial lock-up period of 5 years based on a predetermined formula. Subsequent to the second lock-up period, which ends 3 years after the initial lock-up period, we have a call option to acquire the remaining equity interests of BTY based on a predetermined formula. Additionally, the selling shareholders of BTY have a put option for the remaining equity interest to be acquired by Aptar based on a predetermined formula. The BTY entities are leading Chinese manufacturers of high quality, decorative metal components, metal-plastic sub-assemblies, and complete color cosmetics packaging solutions for the beauty industry.

Sonmol

On April 1, 2020, we invested $5 million to acquire 30% of the equity interests in Healthcare, Inc., Shanghai Sonmol Internet Technology Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary, Shanghai Sonmol Medical Equipment Co., Ltd. (collectively referred to as “Sonmol”), a pharmaceutical and leading Chinese digital respiratory therapeutics company that provides connected devices for asthma control and develops digital therapies and services platforms targeting chronic respiratory illnesses and other diseases.

Kali Care

During 2017, we invested $5 million to acquire 20% of the equity interests in Kali Care, a technology company that provides digital monitoring systems for medical devices. During the fourth quarter of 2020, we recognized an other than temporary impairment of $3.0 million ($2.3 million after-tax) on our underlying assets in this investment as a result of a reassessment of the future value of the business and continued reduction in operating cash flows.

Desotec GmbH

During 2009, we invested €574 thousand to acquire 23% of the equity interests in Desotec GmbH, a leading manufacturer of special assembly machines for bulk processing for the pharmaceutical, beauty and home and food and beverages markets.

Other investments

During August 2019, we invested an aggregate amount of $3.5 million in two preferred equity investments in sustainability companies Loop and PureCycle Technologies (“PureCycle”) that were accounted for at cost less impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for identical or similar investments of the same issuer. During 2020, we invested an additional $1.4 million in these two equity investments and also received $333 thousand of equity in PureCycle in exchange for our resource dedication for technological partnership and support. In November 2020, we increased the value of the PureCycle investment by $3.1 million based on observable price changes.

In March 2021, PureCycle was purchased by a special purpose acquisition company and was subsequently listed on Nasdaq under the ticker PCT. At that time, our investment in PureCycle was converted into shares of PCT. This investment is now recorded at fair value based on observable market prices for identical assets and the change in fair value is recorded as a net investment gain or loss in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income. In March 2021, we recorded an unrealized gain on our investment in PureCycle of $16.8 million.

There were no indications of impairment noted in the three months ended March 31, 2021 related to these investments.