Market

According to the latest Nielsen surveys, from September 2018 to September 2019 Italians spent €1.4 billion on ready meals (8.7% more than the previous year).

The Sanpellegrino group has signed an agreement to sell the Beltè brand to Refresco Italy (Spumador and Recoaro), a company owned by Dutch beverage multinational Refresco.

The 2018/2019 financial statement approved at the end of October for the Conserve Italia group reveals an essentially stable scenario for the Bologna-based cooperative consortium, owner of the brands Yoga, Valfrutta, Cirio, Derby Blue and Jolly Colombani.

US packaging producer Berlin Packaging has completed its fifth acquisition in 2019 (the thirteenth since 2010) with the takeover of Novio Packaging Group, a Netherlands-based company with 160 employees.

The Swiss group Nestlé has decided to cease independent operation of its mineral water arm Nestlé Waters and integrate the various brands (San Pellegrino, Levissima, Panna and the French brand Perrier) into the group’s three geographical zones: America; Europe, Middle-East and North Africa (EMENA); and Asia-Oceania-Sub-Saharan Africa.

In a club deal promoted by Orienta Partners, a group of Italian and international investors has acquired 100% of the shares of Virosac (Pederobba-Treviso), one of the largest Italian producers of biodegradable bags for food and waste.

Veripack, a subsidiary of the market-leading packaging technologies player Ilpra Group, has signed a thermoforming machine supply agreement with Bombay Sweets & Co. Ltd., the largest snack producer in Bangladesh.

The Italian company Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC) has acquired Serbian firm Stax Technologies, a packaging machinery supplier specialising in the tissue sector.

Through its Brazilian subsidiary, Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group has acquired the Sao Paulo-based coffee producer Café Pacaembu Ltda, well known for the Café Pacaembu brand and owner of a production site equipped with cutting-edge technology for the production of ground coffee and capsules.

Two leading healthcare industry players have completed major acquisitions aimed at expanding their industrial operations and accelerating growth.

The Catalan group Quadpack has followed up its recent acquisition of the cosmetics division of Inotech with the takeover of the German cosmetics packaging company Louvrette, an operation that positions the group as one of the top ten European cosmetic packaging providers.

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The global meat traders and exporters KIT International (Brazil) and Garra International (New Zealand) have merged to create a joint venture worth more than US$ 220 million.

As part of a partnership aimed at developing responsible packaging solutions, the French beauty giant L’Oréal and global cosmetics packaging leader Albéa have announced the development of the first paper-based cosmetic tube in which plastic is mostly replaced with a new bio-based and certified paper-like material.

Cedral Tassoni, the historic Italian company based in Salò, has announced that it will invest more than €2 million to complete expansion and renovation work on the factory where it produces soft drinks (including the famous Cedrata), liqueurs and syrups.

«Innovation in manufacturing processes and products is going hand-in-hand with sustainability and respect for the environment in which we live and work» as Alberto Vacchi, IMA's Chairman and CEO, underlined in his talk while inaugurating the ILAPAK Italia works at Foiano della Chiana (AR) on 24 October last.

With the acquisition of Isobionics, a biotechnology innovation leader serving the global market for natural flavours and fragrances (F&F), BASF is entering a market with high development potential.

Molson Coors Brewing Company, an American multinational and market leader in the production of numerous varieties of beer, has opened a new brewery and distribution centre in British Columbia, Canada following an investment of US $226.4 million.

The ETIMEX Primary Packaging GmbH of Dietenheim, which has also been present on the Italian market for years, has developed a valid alternative to ready meal trays in black, white or two-color CPETs, usually used for baking convenience foods but with a limit: by their nature, in fact, they do not show the content.

In August this year, Diageo (UK) announced the acquisition of a majority shareholding in fellow British firm Seedlip, a world leader in the expanding field of distilled non-alcoholic spirits.