Global packaging maker Amcor Ltd. has bought one of its suppliers — B-Pack Due SpA, a maker of polypropylene cast film in Campiglia Marittima, Italy. B-Pack is part of Grupo Colines srl of Novara, Italy.
Amcor's film business is almost exclusively blown production.
The deal includes Amcor signing an exclusive supply agreement with Colines, which makes film equipment, including large cast PP lines.
The deal gives Amcor “protected access to ... technology that will serve as a platform for anticipated further expansion in [cast] PP films,” Amcor said in a statement.
A Colines spokesman said the deal is a reciprocal arrangement: Amcor will buy only Colines large-cast lines, and in return, Colines will not supply such systems to other film producers.
Melbourne-based Amcor paid 43 million euros ($59 million) for B-Pack Due, which had sales in 2009 of 43 million euros.
B-Pack Due makes film for high-performance applications. The company supplies packaging film to the food, textile, floral, medical and surgical industries.
The B-Pack Due operation includes two 5-meter and two 3-meter cast PP lines and has capacity of around 73 million pounds a year. Amcor now buys about one third of B-Pack Due's production.
Amcor Managing Director and CEO Ken MacKenzie said: “This acquisition is an important step in the overall film strategy for the flexibles business. B-Pack Due is a global leader in the production of [cast] PP film and has specialized products and unique process know-how.”
Colines Holding's B-Pack barrier film business and its IP structured packaging operations are not included in the Amcor sale.
The B-Pack plant in Nibbia, Italy, houses two 2-meter-wide cast lines (five- and seven-layer) and three blown lines (two five-layer and one seven-layer).