Constantia Flexibles Group has agreed to acquire a majority shareholding in the Indian film-based laminates producer Creative Polypack. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed and the transaction is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, pending regulatory approvals.

Creative Polypack is family-owned and was founded in 1986. It is expected to achieve sales of about 75 million EUR in the business year 2017-2018 and currently has about 850 employees at eight production sites in Baddi, Kanpur, Kolkata, Assam and Puducherry, in northern, eastern and southern India.

Creative Polypack is India’s fourth largest flexible packaging group, manufacturing film-based flexible packaging for the food and home & personal care (HPC) industries, as well as paper-based soap wrappers. The company serves the leading domestic and international consumer goods companies in India. Creative’s senior management will remain in their current roles.

Alexander Baumgartner, Constantia Flexibles CEO said, “Through this acquisition, we will become the third largest flexible packaging company in India – the fastest growing packaging market globally, with double-digit growth rates driven by the mega trend urbanization and the expansion of the retail sector. In addition, we gain a stronger footprint in the HPC market, which complements our existing customer portfolio, while we are now able to cover the whole of the Indian subcontinent with our extensive production footprint.”

Constantia Flexibles is already a leading supplier of film-based flexible packaging for the Indian market since acquiring Parikh Packaging in 2013, which is based in Ahmedabad, western India. Parikh is investing a double-digit million euro amount in a new greenfield site, which will be home to a polyethylene blown film extruder, high-definition Flexo printing press and laminators that will produce high barrier laminates that can be fully recycled. The extra capacity will come on stream in 2019.

Constantia Flexibles is the world’s fourth largest producer of flexible packaging. Based on the guiding principle of ‘People, Passion, Packaging, some 7,200 employees manufacture tailor-made packaging solutions at 32 sites in 18 countries. Many international companies and local market leaders from the food and pharma industries choose the sustainable and innovative products of Constantia Flexibles.