Alpla Continues Buying Spree with Italy's Propack

Europe's leading packaging producer, Alpla Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co KG, the Austrian specialist in blow molded bottles and caps, injection molded parts, preforms and tubes, has returned to the acquisition trail for the third time this year.

In February, Alpla acquired the Romanian manufacturer of PET preforms for drinks, food and non-food products Star East PET srl. And in June, the company bought Gehl Foods' West Bend, Wisconsin bottle manufacturing plant.

The company now has announced that it is acquiring a 100 per cent stake in Propack srl, a producer of high density polyethylene and PET bottles for home care products headquartered in Ostellato, Italy.

Propack will be the eighth Alpla site in Italy.

Alpla said the agreement was signed in "mid-June."

Propack's product portfolio is complementary to that of Alpla. The company was founded in 2002 under the leadership of Gianni Scapoli as an exclusive supplier of bottles for the parent company Biochimica, a leading producer of detergents.

The acquisition was designed to expand the company's production capacities in the northeast part of Italy, but will also provide proximity to potential new customers in one of the most industrialized areas in Italy.

"We are gaining access to a strong distribution network. Propack is a good strategic partner, which will help us to achieve our targets in Italy, where we are involved since 198," commented Alpla CEO Günther Lehner in a June 27 statement.

The deal is expected to be complete by the end of July.