Coveris to acquire Polish packaging specialist (printweek.com)

In 2022, Stora Enso decided to convert the remaining idle paper machine at the Oulu site into a highly flexible consumer packaging board line for folding box board (FBB) and coated unbleached kraft (CUK), with an annual capacity of 750,000 tonnes. The project is being completed according to the original timeline and budget of approximately EUR 1 billion. The new packaging board line is expected to reach EBITDA breakeven by the year-end 2025 and full capacity during 2027, at which point annual sales are anticipated to be approximately EUR 800 million. Renewable packaging is Stora Enso’s largest growth segment. The investment supports the Group’s strategy by further strengthening the customer offering in the growing FBB and CUK segments. The targeted segments are frozen, chilled and dry food, as well as beverage multi-packaging, primarily for customers in Europe and North America.

Chairman and CEO Thierry Le Hénaff said: “I would like first of all to thank Arkema’s teams who were able to adapt to a demanding macroeconomic and geopolitical context last year. The Group thus once again achieved a solid financial performance in 2024 and continued to implement its innovation strategy for more sustainable solutions and the execution of large-scale projects in Asia and North America which will have a strong contribution in the future. 2024 was also a year of progress in terms of CSR, notably in the areas of safety, climate and diversity, with several achievements ahead of long-term objectives. We are also pleased to have finalized the acquisition of Dow's flexible packaging adhesives last December, a new step in the growth strategy of our Adhesive Solutions segment in high value-added technologies.”

Amcor announced a further strategic investment of up to $45 million in ePac Flexible Packaging (“ePac”), a leader in high quality, short run length digitally-based flexible packaging. The investment will increase Amcor’s minority shareholding in ePac Holdings LLC. Amcor’s Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development, Ian Wilson, said, “This additional investment reflects our confidence in ePac’s entrepreneurial team and their proven ability to rapidly scale in the high growth, often higher value short run segment. Since our initial investment last year, we have been deeply impressed with ePac’s focused and innovative business model centered around deploying a very high level of digitalization and customization. ePac’s proven digital technologies enable the delivery of exceptional service levels and significantly reduced lead times. These specializations are designed to meet the unique speed to market and service needs of locally based small to medium customers, skill sets that are highly transferable to areas of Amcor’s core business.