Essentra announced its intention to acquire the business back in October 2014, and has just confirmed that regulatory and government requirements had been met.
The acquisition expands the company’s business reach beyond its main geographical focus on Europe, and into the North American market, a move company executives say has turned the business into a global operation.
A good geographical and portfolio fit
“The combination of Essentra’s existing packaging capabilities with Clondalkin’s Specialist Packaging Division is a great example of our ambition to expand our capabilities in attractive end-markets, both geographically and from a product perspective,” said Malcom Waugh, Essentra managing director, health and personal care.
“Bringing together the knowledge, expertise and skills from our combined network represents a fantastic opportunity to respond even better to our customers’ needs, and I am very excited to be leading the team going forward.”
Essentra is aiming to tap into significant growth in the market for the global pharmaceutical and beauty packaging sector, which market researchers predict will grow from an estimated $50bn in 2011, to reach $79bn by 2018.
Expanding into a faster growing market
With the Eurozone recently slipping into deflation and the North American economy currently firing on all cylinders, the move could certainly help cushion the effects many businesses are currently feeling from the slower European market right now.
The acquisition itself will add a further 24 manufacturing sites to the company’s operations and an additional 2,400 people to its workforce. Nine of those facilities are in North America, with the rest being in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands.
With respect to the company’s product portfolio, executives say that the acquisition will broaden the flexibility of services it currently has on offer, complementing its existing expertise in folding cartons, labels, foil and tape.
Clondalkin’s business is split between the pharma and beauty markets, and currently approximately half of its revenues are generated in the U.S.