Faerch boosts dairy packaging circularity position with Paccor acquisition

05 Jan 2022 --- Faerch is acquiring Paccor from private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition underlines Faerch’s strategy for creating circularity in food packaging, in this case the European dairy sector, which is identified as the largest segment in rigid food packaging.

Paccor is a European leader in protective packaging for the dairy sector. It has built a long track record of innovation and premium service for the largest and most demanding dairy customers, delivering state-of-the-art solutions mostly in yogurt, spreads and ice cream packaging.

“With Paccor’s strong position in the dairy sector, our complementary geographical footprints and our shared ambition to make food packaging circular, Paccor is the perfect match for Faerch,” says Lars Gade Hansen, Faerch Group’s CEO.

“After years of successful growth, we see in Faerch the perfect partner for us,” adds Andreas Schütte, Paccor’s CEO. “Faerch’s unique integrated recycling capabilities offer fully new opportunities to accelerate the transition toward circular packaging solutions while combining the two companies’ dedication to innovation and investments in R&D.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. The Paccor UK business, including its two production sites, is not part of the transaction and will remain with Lindsay Goldberg.

The year has begun with several notable acquisitions, including Sonoco’s swoop for Ball Metalpack and BillerudKorsnäs’ agreement to acquire Verso, a North American coated paper producer.Paccor’s DuoSmart solutions can be printed with Digimarc digital watermarking.

Complementary footprints
Paccor was founded in 2011 as a merger of several packaging companies. Today, the company is present in 18 countries, and its geographical footprint is said to complement Faerch’s pan-European presence.

The acquisition comprises 16 production sites in Europe, Asia and the US and more than 3,400 employees. The new company set-up marks a strong focus on innovation, indicates Faerch.

After transaction approval, the Faerch Group will comprise 34 sites and employ almost 6,000 people globally.

“We look forward to welcoming all of our new highly skilled colleagues to the Group,” continues Hansen. “With Paccor becoming part of Faerch, the industry’s transition toward circularity will gain additional momentum for food packaging being recycled back into new food packaging of the same quality again and again.”

“With Paccor’s leading position in the dairy sector, Faerch will be present in all major food packaging segments, allowing the much-needed standardization away from non-recyclable legacy materials toward truly circular packaging solutions. A comprehensive investment program for supporting material conversion and scaling our recycling platform will be launched,” he adds.

Accelerating circularity
Paccor recently premiered a cloud-based “digital ecosystem” for increasing plastic packaging recycling levels through intelligent product identities at FachPack 2021 in Nuremberg, Germany.Paccor recently premiered a cloud-based “digital ecosystem” for increased recyclability.

PackagingInsights caught up with Schütte during the show to discuss the Paccor Cloud Solutions database, digital watermarking and the Holy Grail 2.0 project’s progress, and consumer perceptions of plastic after the COVID-19 experience.

“Paccor Cloud Solutions is a holistic set of different solutions. The first step is to provide our packaging with the potential to identify the material,” he said.

“We have mastered the challenge of bringing the digital watermark into the packaging, not only on the label, but really into the packaging, which will allow for identification throughout the value stream and later at recycling for material separation and, therefore, a closed-loop system.”

PackagingInsights recently explored trends in dairy packaging with leading manufacturers Sealpac, Tetra Pak, SIG, Amcor, Elopak and dairy co-operative Fonterra.

By Joshua Poole

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