Leading metal packaging manufacturer Impress has completed the purchase of Russia’s Sofrinskya Banka, including the assets of its can-making business Global Investment.
Impress says the acquisition of €12m turnover, 70-strong Global Investment (the purchase price was not disclosed) will provide it with a solid base for developing its Russian metal packaging business and builds on the strategic alliance and technical assistance agreement it has had with the aerosol and food can producer over the past three years. The assets being bought include equipment for the production of two and three-piece food cans and steel aerosols. The operation, based in a factory in Sofrino, close to Moscow, will be wholly owned by Impress’s Russian holding company Impress Rus.
Impress has also acquired a share of Russkaya Banka, a recently established canmaking start-up in the southern Russian agricultural region of Krasnodar, a major vegetable growing area. “This is a great opportunity to establish Impress in a market with high growth potential for metal packaging,” says Francis Labbé, Impress ceo. “These investments add to our already significant presence in central and Eastern Europe and give us the ideal platform to support international customers investing in Russia, and to work with the increasing number of dynamic Russian consumer goods companies.”
Dr David Griffin, Impress Group business and commercial development manager, adds: “Can use in Russia is rising, fuelled by the growing number of international brand owners setting up filling operations there and an increasing trend for local FMCG product manufacture, rather than importing from overseas.”
Impress claims to be Europe’s second largest food can supplier.