Multisorb absorbs UK active packaging firm
bought up Silgel Packaging, a fellow manufacturer of desiccant
packaging products.
The acquisition of the Telford, UK, company further strengthens Multisorb's position in the active packaging technology market, where it is already a significant player. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but Multisorb sees the purchase as complimenting its strategy of global expansion and growth of its product portfolio, allowing the firm to better serve its customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Silgel, a subsidiary of AMCOL Minerals Europe, will be integrated into Multisorb's organisation over a transition period during which both companies will continue to concentrate on their own customers. Silgel manufactures a range of products to provide solutions to humidity problems to a variety of industries manufacturing or transporting moisture-sensitive products. Alongside the company's standard desiccant product range using silica gel, activated clay and molecular sieves, the firm also creates customised solutions according to specific client requirements. On of the firm's major products for the pharma industry, developed in collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturers, is its patented Dri-Mac desiccant canister. The product has been specifically designed for high sped automatic insertion in healthcare, diagnostic and nutrition sectors, and has been manufactured using materials approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for direct contact with drugs. The canister itself has been designed to eliminate both moisture and odour from product packaging, and is breathable at both ends (thus solving problems associated with single-end canisters which can become useless if inverted during transit). Alongside these speciality goods, Silgel also manufactures more standard desiccant products for the pharma industry, such as its Sil-Dri silica gel and Siv-Dri molecular sieve which reduces relative humidities to zero. The company bases its products on both naturally-derived and synthetic absorbents and superabsorbents, and following major investment over the last four years has developed a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with clean room production facilities that meet the requirements of pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies. These facilities will now become the property of Multisorb. Neither company was able to comment on the acquisition, but in a statement Multisorb referred to the purchase as strategic move that "bolsters Multisorb's suite of advanced active packaging capabilities" and will "greatly augment the development of innovative moisture management solutions."
