The European Commission has cleared a flexible packaging joint venture between Danapac, a Danish manufacturer of packaging products for the food industry, and Teich of Austria which also makes flexible packaging products.
The transaction does not cause any competition problems since the joint venture will face competition from big rivals such as Amcor, Alcan and VAW Europack.
Under the terms of the deal notified to the Commission for regulatory clearance on August the 1st, Teich will transfer a number of assets to Danapak Flexibel, currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of Danapak, itself controlled by the Danish Arla Foods Amba group, a global supplier of dairy products. After completion of the deal, Teich will own 60 per cent of Danapak Flexible, the remaining 40 per cent being controlled by Danapak.
The operation concerns the production and supply of flexible packaging, including plastic and cellulose films, aluminium foils and papers used for retail food packaging, labelling and certain other non-food sectors.
Although Danapak and Teich both make flexible packaging, the Commission concluded that there was no risk that Danapak Flexibel would have a dominant position in Europe irrespective of whether the relevant product market was considered to encompass all flexible packaging or the individual markets for flexible packaging products for each end-use, e.g. pharmaceuticals, dairy, and pet food. It was found that Danapak Flexibel would face effective competition from strong rivals such as Amcor of Australia, Canada's Alcan and German company VAW Europack as well as smaller competitors.
Teich is controlled by Constantia Verpackungen, which is one of the two branches of the Austrian Constantia Industrial Group. The ultimate parent company of Constantia Verpackungen is Austrian foundation Turnhauer Industriestiftung.