Twinpak Inc. is teaming up with Bericap Group in a North American closures joint venture.
The deal will boost Twinpak's closures product line and will give Bericap a North American production base requested by its customers, said Scott Ambrose, Twinpak's closures general manager. The new company, Bericap Inc., will be based in Twinpak's Burlington, Ontario, closures facility when the joint venture becomes effective Sept. 1.
Twinpak injection molds closures for soft drink bottles and pharmaceutical containers, Ambrose said in an interview from Burlington. Bericap makes specialty closures, especially tamper-evident and child-resistant types; and closures with pour features for food, beverage, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical markets.
Bericap operated a small closure plant near Montreal but closed it last year and moved its equipment to Twinpak's Burlington facility as a first step to get acquainted with Twinpak, said Ambrose. Each partner will hold 50 percent of Bericap Inc. Bericap plans to retain a sales office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Burlington is Twinpak's only closures production facility. Ambrose estimated his firm's annual closures sales at about C$20 million (US$14.5 million).
Bericap of Dijon, France, only makes plastic closures and does about C$250 million (US$181.3 million) in sales annually. Its 10 current plants are in France, England, Spain, Germany, Poland, Turkey and Hungary. It also is building one in Kunshan, China.
Bericap Inc. will capitalize on Bericap Group's technology and Twinpak's market position to expand the respective businesses in North America. Ambrose said Twinpak has no plan to use the joint venture as a launch into global markets. He will become president of Bericap Inc.
Ambrose said Bericap was formed 10 years ago from the merger of a German and a French company, each of which had been making closures since the 1970s. Bericap Group is privately held. Twinpak is a subsidiary of Amcor Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia.
