Australian packaging giant Amcor Ltd. has continued its global expansion, buying Packaging India Pvt. Ltd. (PIPL) from Essel Propack Ltd. for US$26.4 million.
Essel, based in Mumbai, India, is a publicly listed specialty packaging company.
An Amcor statement said PIPL has three plants in India and produces flexible packaging mainly for food and personal care markets. It said the business has multinational and Indian customers and generates annual sales of about US$40 million.
PIPL was established in 1990 and has blown film extrusion, printing, laminating, slitting and pouch-making facilities at plants in Pondicherry, Sitarganj and Cuddalore.
The Pondicherry plant, 93 miles south of Chennai, opened in 1990, and Sitarganj, 155 miles northeast of New Delhi, opened in 2007. Both manufacture food packaging. The Cuddalore plant, near Pondicherry, manufactures gravure printing cylinders and rollers. It opened in 2008.
Amcor already has four flexible packaging plants in India. Amcor's statement said the PIPL acquisition expands Amcor's footprint into southern India, “increases the local talent pool, and adds to existing blown film and cylinder-making capabilities.”
Amcor Managing Director and CEO Ron Delia said: “India is a very attractive market for flexible packaging driven by strong economic growth, favorable demographics and rapidly changing retail formats.
“The PIPL acquisition provides an opportunity to further expand Amcor's customer base and enhance our value proposition in this important, high-growth market.”
Essel Propack Vice Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Goel said in a statement divesting PIPL is “in line with our strategic decision to intensify focus on the core tube packaging business globally, including India.”
He said there is significant growth in demand for laminated tubes.
In March, Amcor bought South African-based Nampak Holdings Ltd.'s Nampak Flexibles division for US$22 million. In December, it bought Zhongshan Tian Cai Packaging Co. Ltd., which has one plant in Zhongshan, in China's Guangdong province, and annual sales of US$45.2 million.
Melbourne-based Amcor manufactures rigid and flexible plastic packaging products for the food, beverage, healthcare, home and personal care, and tobacco industries.
It has annual sales of US$9.5 billion and employs 27,200 across 180 sites in 43 countries.
