Recapping SIG’s recent acquisitions and significant Indian expansion

On 5 January 2022, SIG agreed to acquire Pactiv Evergreen’s carton packaging and filling machinery businesses known as Evergreen Asia. The Lake Forest Illinois headquartered, company divested its carton packaging and filling machinery businesses in China, Korea and Taiwan, known as Evergreen Asia, for approximately US$ 335 million. Pactiv Evergreen’s divestiture of its Asian business aligned with the company’s strategy to focus on North American markets.

The acquisition of Evergreen Asia, the leading system supplier of filling machines, cartons, closures and after-sales service in the chilled segment, covering dairy and non-carbonated soft drinks, with production facilities in mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea was completed at the beginning of August 2022.

SIG stated at the time – “The acquisition provides new growth opportunities in Asia, where demand is growing strongly especially for fresh milk in China. Evergreen Asia enables SIG to further expand its existing customer relationships with national dairies and provides access to new customers at a regional and local level. SIG intends to leverage its R&D know-how, innovation capabilities and its marketing expertise to introduce more innovative packaging formats in this market segment.”

Evergreen Asia added fresh milk cartons to SIG’s liquid dairy portfolio that was earlier mainly focused on single-serve packs and on-the-go consumption. Apart from the increased acceptance of milk in China, the acquisition broadens SIG’s range with the larger family-sized milk packaging since milk is consumed mainly at home.

Lidong Fan, president and general manager of SIG Asia Pacific North, said, “Evergreen Asia is an exciting addition to our business. With chilled carton packaging, we can offer our customers an even more comprehensive range of products. Together, we will also continue to innovate and provide safe and sustainable packaging that consumers expect today and in the future.”

SIG acquires Scholle IPN and commences production in Palgarh

In February 2022, Switzerland-based aseptic packaging provider SIG agreed to purchase flexible packaging company Scholle IPN for an enterprise value of €1.36 billion and an equity value of €1.05 billion. Based in the US, Scholle IPN provides a range of sustainable packaging products, including its bag-in-box solution and spouted pouches. It employs around 2,100 people worldwide and generated revenues of €474m for the 12 months to 31 December 2021. The deal was completed on 1 June 2022 and SIG has already built and inaugurated a second plant in Palgarh in Maharastra for producing the bag-in-box solutions previously marketed by Scholle and Bossar.

The combined SIG-Scholle IPN entity has a total of 69 sales and manufacturing sites worldwide, with almost 8,000 employees. Apart from its aseptic packaging solutons, the acquisition helps SIG to expand the bag-in-box and spouted pouch solutions into the emerging Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa markets, where it has an established presence. At the time of the acquisition, SIG CEO Samuel Sigrist said, “The acquisition of Scholle IPN cements SIG’s position as a global leader in innovative and sustainable packaging for food and beverages.”

Second plant in Palgarh and construction begins in Ahmedabad

SIG has three sites in India with a fourth an aseptic packaging plant in Ahmedabad under construction to be completed at the end of 2024. The current operational sites include a filling and sealing machinery manufacturing plant in Pune and two sites in Palgarh near Mumbai – the second of these being a new plant for the Scholle IPN bag-in-box solutions completed in April 2023. Scholle IPN president and CEO Ross Bushnell has joined SIG’s Group Executive Board.

“The second production plant in Palghar is an important addition to our manufacturing footprint in India,” said Dhandutt Shah, managing director India for SIG’s bag-in-box and spouted pouch business. “Combined with our existing plants in Palghar, where packaging material for bag-in-box and spouted pouch are manufactured, and Pune, where Horizontal Form-Fill-Seal Machine (HFFS) equipment is built, we will offer ‘Total Packaging Solutions’ ensuring SIG offers to the market a significant differentiator by offering finished packaging in-country.”

The latest development is that SIG is now constructing its first aseptic carton plant in India in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The plant will supply its growing filler base, which now serves all leading dairy and non-carbonated soft drink players. The construction of the state-of-the-art facility for the printing and finishing of aseptic carton packs with high environmental standards commenced in Q1 2023, and the start of commercial production is expected towards the end of 2024.