Sud-Chemie enters new markets with joint venture
packaging business to German-speaking markets with a joint venture
with Swiss company Plaspaq SA.
The new company, Sud-Chemie Schweiz SA, will offer Sud-Chemie access to the German, Austrian and Swiss markets, where Plaspaq, a specialist in the development and manufacture of pharmaceutical packaging, has strong experience and a major presence.
Pharmaceutical packaging is already highly consolidated, with 465 companies involved in the European market in 2004.
Analyst AMI estimates that as many as 200 companies could move out of closure production in Western Europe over the next five years in an already consolidated industry.
By expanding beyond England and France, Sud-Chemie believes it can take advantage of Plaspaq's existing customer and production base to boost its European sales swiftly, as well as increase its polymer packaging product offerings to its global markets.
Likewise, Plaspaq hopes to benefit from Sud-Chemie's dominant position for complex packing solutions for the European pharmaceutical industry.
Under the deal, which is pending authorisation from anti-trust authorities, Plaspaq will transfer its pharmaceutical packaging division to Sud-Chemie Schweiz in Brock and Sud-Chemie will subsequently take over a 51 per cent stake in the new company, leaving Plaspaq with 49 per cent.
Plaspaq's product line is synergistic with Sud-Chemie's portfolio, including tubes and desiccant stoppers, desiccant canisters and inserts, desiccant polymers, dosers, dispensers and customised packaging components.
"The formation of Sud-Chemie Schweiz is a key step for Sud-Chemie on its way to becoming a leading provider of packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical, diagnostics and medical industry," Gunter von Au, chairman of the Sud-Chemie managing board, said in a statement.
"Thanks to its worldwide presence in this segment, Sud-Chemie is the ideal partner for global pharmaceutical companies."
In all its operations, Sud-Chemie generated sales of €862 million in 2004, but 80 per cent of these were outside Germany, so the company hopes it can improve its performance in this market with this latest venture.
Its partner Plaspaq SA is a fully owned affiliate of PQH Holding, which manages a group of Swiss companies active in the European market for packaging products.
