CCL Labels has invested in in-mould labelling (IML) expertise, with the acquisition of Spanish IML specialist Creaprint.
The company has a new production facility in Alicante, Spain, and a sales office in Miami, US, and had sales of $17 million (€15.5 million) in 2022. It will henceforth trade as CCL Label Spain and operate as part of CCL’s Food & Beverage unit in Europe.
Guenther Birkner, president of CCL Food & Beverage, said that Creaprint, which has 20 years of experience in IML, is ‘one of the most important producers in the world in terms of technology, know-how, means and production capacity’.
IML is a growing sector for packaging decoration, in which the label becomes an integral part of injection or blow moulded plastic containers, without the need for adhesives. Typically, the same resin material is used for both the label and the container, to aid recycling.
‘This acquisition brings a deeper understanding of IML technology and know-how to our global CCL Label operations, and is a great fit for our existing assets,’ said CCL Food & Beverage’s managing director Reinhard Streit. ‘We are looking forward to expanding our decoration portfolio even further to service our local and global customers that are looking into different decoration technologies to design their packaging.’
