Swiss packaging group Stäger & Co. has extended its product range and manufacturing spread with its acquisition of Czech thermoformer Inovac s.r.o.
The purchase, for an undisclosed sum, sees Inovac, based in Rokycany, western Czech Republic, renamed Stäger Inovac Packaging under its new parent company. Inovac's production and new management team is being relocated to a modern manufacturing unit in the nearby regional capital of Pilsen, according to Stäger.
The move will allow an expansion of the existing business, and also lead to the installation of additional equipment to turn out packaging for the companies' traditional food and personal care markets.
Stäger said the deal, apart from growing its product range and services, is expected to strengthen its market presence in Western and particularly Eastern Europe. Inovac's location will bring group operations closer to its customers in the east of the region.
Formed by three partners in 1994, Inovac has specialized in the production of packaging for the automotive, electro-technical and consumer goods industries. Products manufactured include component carriers and transport trays for auto parts suppliers.
The firm set out to meet the strong demand for high quality from the German marketplace at favorable prices while taking advantage of lower production costs in the Czech Republic. Its success led on to growing business in the domestic market too.
Stäger group, based in Muri, Switzerland, specializes in the development and production of transparent folded boxes and tubes as well as trays, blister and clamshell packs, and technical components for the confectionary/food, cosmetics, textile and technical industries. It employs 200.
The Swiss packaging firm operates production plants in the United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Switzerland. It acquired the British transparent plastics packaging firm Clear Packaging of Coventry, U.K., in 2008 to form Stäger Clear Packaging and now also has a competence center in Eschwege, Germany.