The thermoforming group buys Rexam’s food plastic packaging division
Sharp Interpack, the UK thermoformer, has aquired Rexam’s Bristol-based food plastic packaging division for an undisclosed sum.
Based at Yate, the Rexam business employs 150 people and is the leading supplier of both MAP trays to the poultry industry and punnets to the UK using rotary thermoforming technology.
The acquisition furthers Sharp Interpack’s aim of leading the rigid plastic packaging sector in the UK and Europe. In a statement, Sharp Interpack said that all 150 employees would keep their jobs and manufacturing will continue on existing product lines.
Declan O’Sullivan, managing director at Sharp Interpack, said: “This is a real strategic opportunity for us. This new division fits with our existing structure bringing a totally different but complimentary technology to our own.” O’Sullivan also said that the company intends to build on Rexam’s strong customer relationships and be the lowest cost producer within its market sectors.
The owners of Sharp Interpack, the South African de Jager brothers, have invested £42m into the business in the last four years. In July 2005, the company continued the development of its site in Bridgwater, Somerset, with a new film extrusion hall.
In announcing its interim results last month, Rexam said that it would continue its strategy of capturing growth in plastic packaging. The company recently acquired a pharmaceutical packaging operation in India, opened a plant in Poland to serve the home and personal care packaging market, and began high barrier food container production in Europe.
