Schur to acquire Uni Packaging

Headquartered in Baden near Vienna, Austria, Schur Flexibles Group specializes in high quality and made-to-measure high barrier packaging products for the food, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. With its integrated chain of added value, from extrusion via print and laminating, to extensive bag and pouch making, the group, which was founded in 2012, is one of the top European companies in the industry. Schur Flexibles employs around 1,400 employees and is made up of 12 companies with 14 production plants in Germany, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Greece and Russia.

Flexible packaging specialist Uni Packaging offers gravure, flexo and digital printing, as well as creation/design services, co-extrusion, film lamination, sleeve bag forming and logistics. Uni Packaging has a network of seven production sites, five logistics hubs and worldwide sales offices.

The intended acquisition will strengthen Schur Flexibles’ position in both the dairy and fresh food business in France and the UK.

Michael Schernthaner, managing director at Schur Flexibles Group, said: ‘Uni Packaging would perfectly complement and enhance our business portfolio. It is an established player which keeps breaking new ground. With our combined businesses based on a balanced geographic footprint, leading technology and high quality products, we would shape the future of the packaging industry.’

Franck Caresmel, a UNI Packaging board member, added: ‘The flexible packaging market is characterized by fast technical developments and increasing customer expectations. As part of the Schur Flexibles Group, we would be even better prepared to face these challenges, with the ability to leverage our combined experiences and our different areas of expertise advantageously.’

Uni Packaging invests extensively each year into research and development, as well as the innovation and development of existing products and processes.

Uni Packaging is a major player in digital printing for flexible packaging in Europe, having invested numerous times in HP Indigo’s 20000 digital press technology. Schur Flexibles plans to benefit from Uni Packaging’s expertise in this area and utilize digital printing technology.

The planned acquisition will additionally add scale to Schur Flexibles’ operations and improve profitability. Given Uni Packaging’s extensive knowledge and experience in packaging dairy and fresh food products, the planned acquisition will help Schur Flexibles to expand its footprint in both the fast-growing cheese and dairy, and in the fresh food and convenience markets.

The Caresmel family will take an important role for the combined group’s cheese and dairy, as well as fresh food and convenience business. Regionally, the planned combination will support Schur Flexibles’ foothold in France and the UK. Schur Flexibles intends to leverage Uni Packaging’s strong market position for pouches, which are increasingly acting as substitute to rigid packaging, on a pan-European base.

In the future, the Caresmel family will assume responsibility for both the pouch making and digital operations of the combined businesses.

The combination of Schur Flexibles’ and Uni Packaging’s extrusion businesses will also increase scale and improve the companies’ ability to serve customers even better.

Completion of the transaction is expected in the coming weeks.