European plastics packaging sector recovered quickly from effects of recession, reflected in spate of merger and acquisition activity, AMI report; Amcor leads regional industry by value

Liling Tan

BRISTOL, England , August 17, 2011 (press release) – Recent changes in the structure of the plastics packaging industry have been documented in a new report from Applied Market Information Ltd. Updating its survey of the leading 50 plastics packaging producers in Europe, AMI has found that the sector has recovered quickly from the effects of the recession leading to a spate of merger and acquisition activity as the leading groups increasingly focus on core activities.

The major change that has occurred in recent years was Amcor's acquisition of Alcan's flexible packaging business in 2010 further reinforcing its position as Europe's largest plastics packaging producer in value terms. This acquisition followed earlier divestments by Amcor of its rigid packaging operations to focus more on its consumer flexible packaging business in Europe.

Other significant changes include Huhtamaki's divestment of most of its rigid plastics packaging operations and RPC's acquisition of Superfos to enhance its position as a supplier of injection moulded containers. Rexam is another major packaging group which has chosen to divest various food packaging plants to focus on healthcare and beauty packaging.

After Amcor the second largest company - and the largest packaging producer in volume terms consuming in excess of 700,000 tonnes of polymer/year at its European plants - is the Austro-German group, Alpla. Unlike most other leading players this group continues to grow its business mainly by investment in greenfield and in-plant factories. The last five years have been a particularly intense period of growth for Alpla having added nearly 40 new sites worldwide for the manufacture of various bottles, containers and closures.

In AMI's analysis speciality food packaging producer Sealed Air Corporation ranks as the third largest producer with plastics packaging related sales in Europe in excess of one billion Euros for 2010. Challenging for that spot in 2011 will be RPC following its acquisition of Superfos which was completed in February 2011 so not taken into account in AMI's listing. The combined sales of these two businesses is expected to top EUR 1.1 billion with a polymer purchasing requirement in excess of 300,000 tonnes. RPC's strategy has been to grow its business through such strategic acquisitions, although rising costs have also seen the group review its operation to ensure that it focuses on the most appropriate and attractive plastics packaging businesses.

The report covers all the leading rigid and flexible plastics packaging producers in Europe. AMI estimates that the 50 groups profiled in its report accounted for approximately one-third of the European sales in plastics packaging, which for 2010 amounted to more than EUR 21 billion. These businesses were responsible for the purchase of over 6.5 million tonnes of polymer material consumed at over 730 plants.

TOP 10 PLASTICS PACKAGING PRODUCERS IN EUROPE BY VALUE

Source: Applied Market Information Ltd., 2011

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