Expected to take effect on March 1, 2013, the deal follows the summer 2012 acquisition by DS Smith of SCA Packaging, the conditions for which – as set by the European anti-trust authorities – included the sale of the Caradec factory in Western France, a region said to represent one-third of the French packaging market.
Located in Brittany, the Caradec facility produces 100 million m2 of corrugated board a year and consumes 60,000 tonnes of paper.
Europac Group says the deal will enable it to “step up board production in France by 28%” and to increase its vertical integration.
“With this acquisition, the degree of integration between paper and board in the French market will rise from 67% to 88%,” the company says.
José Miguel Isidro, chairman of the Europac Group, says: “This acquisition falls under the umbrella of the Group’s strategic targets for the French market, where we command a share of the packaging segment of 7.4%.”
Headquartered in Madrid, the Europac Group currently produces 280,000 tonnes of recycled paper and 360 million m2 of corrugated board per annum.
The company entered the French market in 2008. The addition of the Caradec facility will, Europac says, boost board production by 28% to 460 million m2 per year, making Europac the “fourth-largest packaging producer in France”.
