The Klingele Paper & Packaging Group, one of the leading independent manufacturers of corrugated base paper and corrugated packaging, has acquired the Société Guadeloupéenne de Carton Ondulé (SGCO) production site on the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean from International Paper Company, one of the world's leading manufacturers of packaging, pulp and paper products based on renewable fibres.
The corrugated board plant in Baillif, a community with around 5,000 inhabitants in the southwest of the island, mainly produces packaging for bananas and other fruits and vegetables as well as for the food industry and beverage trade. Customers are mainly regional producers on Guadeloupe, but also on the neighbouring island of Martinique, which also belongs to France. The company, which will in future trade under the name Klingele Cartonnerie de Guadeloupe, has just under 40 employees and is the only one of its kind on the island. With this new acquisition, Klingele is continuing its successful internationalisation course.
Commitment in the American region strengthened
The factory on Guadeloupe has a corrugator, a flatbed die-cutter and two inline machines. Since the packaging produced there is mainly intended for direct contact with food and storage in cold stores, kraftliner papers with high fresh fibre content are mainly used. In future, the mill will also source these from the Nova Campina paper mill in Brazil, which Klingele acquired a few months ago.
With this new investment, the Klingele Group is strengthening its commitment to the American continent following its investment in Cuba and the acquisition of the Nova Campina paper mill in Brazil. A great deal of expertise in integrating and expanding the new site comes from Klingele Embalajes Canarias, a Klingele subsidiary on Tenerife: the corrugated board plant there also produces mainly for the fruit and vegetable trade and has a similar customer structure.
With Mauritania, Cuba, Brazil and Senegal, Klingele has made entrepreneurial decisions in recent years for promising markets with good growth prospects.
"We are pleased that with Guadeloupe and Martinique we can continue our expansion this time within the European Union," emphasises Dr Jan Klingele, Managing Partner of the Klingele Paper & Packaging Group. " Thanks to the excellent local team and our experience on other islands with comparable packaging requirements, we are confident that we can sustainably inspire Cartonnerie de Guadeloupe's customers with high quality and individual service."
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