Immediately after the European Court's decision to overule the EU competition authority's veto on the merger between Swedish packaging manufacturer Tetra Laval and French PET bottle manufacturing group Sidel, the Swedish company announced its intention to proceed with the merger, a report in Les Echos said.
Goran Grosskopf, chairman of Tetra Laval, said that the company had always been convinced of the logic of the operation, and that he would be presenting his new file to the EU Commission in three or four weeks.
Sidel chairman Gerhard Striche said that the ruling will allow the company to benefit from a new stakeholder which would ensure its long term devlopment and turn around its currently ailing financial situation.
The Swedish group had never officially renounced the move, simply transferring 95 per cent of the capital that it had acquired in Sidel to an ad hoc structure. The new management wasted no time, closing down units and putting subsidiaries such as Norden, Cermex and Guerin up for sale, hoping to lift the company out of the red following losses of Euro 47.5 million in 2001.
Strategically the move to buy up Sidel will have great implications for Tetra Laval's future expansion plans. Sidel is currently one of the leading providers of equipment for the PET bottling industry. Although Tetra Laval has made its name in paper carton manufacturing, the growth in that market is relatively stagnant. However, in the PET packaging sector, annual growth is currently running at around 10 per cent, presenting big opportunities for Tetra Laval to further expand its empire.