Film extrusion: Amcor buys a supplier to get firm footing in the CPP business

As part of the acquisition of B-Pack Due, Amcor has also entered into an exclusive supply agreement with Colines SpA, an Italian manufacturer of extrusion lines and the other member company of the Group, for that manufacturer's large capacity CPP lines. The agreement covers lines greater than 3.5m of net width from Colines' Polycast range of CPP lines, according to Francesco Peccetti, the manufacturer's marketing manager, in response to a question from MPW.

Amcor paid €43 million for B-Pack Due, which it says is represents an EBITDA multiple of 5.3 times calendar-year 2009 earnings. B-Pack's 2009 sales were €43 million. "This acquisition is complementary to our existing operations as Amcor currently does not have a large position making these films...The acquisition price of 4.9 times EBITDA enables us to achieve very strong returns on our investment," stated Ken MacKenzie, Amcor's managing director and CEO.

Key end markets for the film are fund in are medical, pet food and other laminated food packaging. Amcor is headquartered in Australia and has two flexible packaging business units, one each for Asia Pacific and for Europe / Americas. Amcor's flexible packaging businesses have relied to now almost entirely on blown film extrusion. Before the acquisition, Amcor was buying approximately a third of B-Pack Due's production.

Colines (Nibbia, Italy) recently installed a CPP sheet line at B-Pack Due. The useful width of the line is 2800 mm, with the maximum production speed for technical films 400 m/min or more. Colines claims its CPP lines are especially effective, in comparison to competing lines, at line with useful widths of about 4 meters and higher - so exactly the range in which Amcor wants exclusivity.