Plastic packaging company ALPLA is set to acquire Propack, an Italian producer of HDPE and PET bottles, to strengthen production capacity in north-east Italy; completion expected in July.

UK-listed DS Smith signed a conditional agreement to acquire 80% of US corrugated packaging business Interstate Resources from Merpas for $920 million, assuming about $226 million of debt.

Plastipak Packaging announced a $15 million capital investment to add up to seven production lines at its Pineville, Louisiana facility, creating 10 direct jobs and retaining 263 existing jobs.

Diamond Box, a UK corrugated packaging manufacturer in West Bromwich, secured an £8m finance package from Bibby Financial Services to buy a dual-print corrugated printing press.

Ima signed an agreement to acquire 60% of Eurosicma, an Italian packaging machinery maker, for about EUR 26 million. The deal is expected to close by September 30, 2017.

Packaging film specialist Ongropack brought its sixth stretching line on stream at its facility in Kazincbarcika, Hungary, increasing capacity by 1,200 t/y. The investment was just under EUR 800,000.

Sepack coordinated the construction of three production lines for a major Italian coffee roaster, with Spreafico providing filling machines. The plants are now operating at the roaster's factory.

Accrol Group invested €4.5 million in a new tissue converting machine at its Leyland facility, with capacity of 15,000 tonnes per annum. Installation and commissioning will be towards the end of FY18.

TricorBraun, a St. Louis packaging company, agreed to acquire Salbro Bottle, a Woodbridge, Ontario maker of plastic and glass containers and closures. No financial terms were disclosed. The announcement was made on June 26, 2017.

Sonoco agreed to buy 100 percent of Clear Lam Packaging, a family-held maker of high barrier flexible and forming plastic films, for about $170 million in cash. Clear Lam operates in Elk Grove Village, Illinois and Nanjing, China, and closing is expected in Q3 2017.

Pincon Spirit's board approved setting up a rice bran oil refinery and solvent extraction plant at Dankuni, West Bengal at a cost of INR 30 crore with 200 MT/day capacity, and a PET preform bottle manufacturing plant at Asansol, West Bengal at a cost of INR 20 crore with 1 million bottles/day capacity.

Glass Industries will build a glass container plant in Nevinnomyssk industrial park with an investment of RUB 1.2 billion. The plant will have a capacity of 120 million conventional units of glass containers per year and create 160 jobs. Production is expected to start in Q4 2018.

Wayne Automation built nearly 60 packaging machines for a large brewery in Mexico, using Siemens components, including BCI Basket Carrier Erectors/Inserters, RPS Case Sealers, and SF-400 UHS Partition Inserters.

China Haoran agreed to supply about 32,000 tonnes of food packaging paper products to Ningbo Chengyi Paper, worth about 38 billion won, through June 2018, with output ultimately going to McDonald's. The deal was disclosed on June 22, 2017.

Maxco Supply Inc. is planning to expand its operations from its Parlier base to a box factory in nearby Fowler, California.

Board24, part of the Logson Group, is investing a further £5m to extend its Preston sheet feeder operation by 4,000sqm, raising loading and storage capacity by 30% and adding a fourth material handling line.

Linpac invested £320,000 in a new outdoor chiller plant at its Featherstone, West Yorkshire headquarters, replacing cooling towers for improved energy efficiency and safety.

Atlantic Packaging Products and Canada Fibers announced a broadened strategic alliance to improve recovery of used corrugated material for Atlantic's paper mills and to develop integrated sustainable packaging programs.

Golden West Packaging Group bought four independent packaging companies in Northern California, Heritage Solutions, Capital Corrugated, PackageOne and Packaging Innovators Corporation, plus their co-owned sheet feeder Cal Sheets, for an undisclosed value.

The MATLET Group will close its 150,000 sq ft Central Florida Press manufacturing operation in Orlando, Florida by the end of summer 2017, affecting about 145 workers, and move the work to its Packaging Graphics facility in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Radfords Fine Fudge invested in a Minflow400 flow wrapper from Tisomi Packaging Machinery to replace manual packing, reducing costs by over five percent.

Kanodia Technoplast, a gravure printing and flexible packaging company, plans a fifth manufacturing facility at Kundli, India by the third quarter of fiscal 2017-18.

Baumüller received an order from Lemo Maschinenbau to design a cost-optimized, modular foil bag machine with a new automation concept, achieving over 10% higher productivity.

Hi-P International's wholly owned subsidiary Huglomerate is investing 22.8 million yuan into a joint venture with Cino Coffee Machine Mfg Co Ltd to make coffee machines and provide packaging for coffee and beverages. Huglomerate will hold a 20% stake.

Mauser USA, part of Mauser Group, will invest $10 million in a 40,000 sq ft plastic container packaging and logistics facility in Geismar, Ascension Parish, creating 28 initial direct jobs.

Intertape Polymer Group agreed to acquire a minimum 55% interest in Capstone Polyweave Private Limited for approximately $13 million. The partnership is expected to lead to a greenfield manufacturing facility costing about $30 million.

CHEP and IFCO, Brambles companies, renewed their supply agreements with Finnish retailer S Group, providing reusable pallets and foldable plastic food crates. IFCO will supply up to 20 million reusable food crates over five years.

Green Bay Packaging has broken ground on a 107,000-square-foot expansion in Pavilion Township, Kalamazoo County, investing $10.8 million to add a corrugating line and three jobs.

Ahlstrom-Munksjö will invest €6.7 million to increase production capacity for Genuine Vegetable Parchment (GVP) products at its Saint Severin plant in France. The project is expected to be completed in Q4 2018.

Cretex Companies, Inc. has acquired QTS, a leading provider of validated assembly, kitting, and packaging solutions for medical device OEMs, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. Terms were not disclosed.

BG Container Glass, a subsidiary of Bangkok Glass, announced a Bt2 billion glass-container factory in Ratchaburi with daily capacity of 400 tonnes. The plant is due to start operations in the third quarter of 2018.

Promerca announced a 4 million euro investment to expand its facilities in Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, adding 3,000 square meters of warehouses and production rooms, and acquiring flexographic printing machinery.

Gebr. Robers GmbH is investing approximately EUR 3 million in a new 2,000 m² export packaging center with an 80-ton crane system in Südlohn, Germany. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 9, 2017, with completion planned for spring 2018.

Uhlmann Packaging Systems L.P. of Towaco, New Jersey acquired Cremer Speciaalmachines B.V., a Dutch manufacturer of counting and packaging systems based in Lisse. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Scholle IPN opened a new flexible packaging manufacturing plant in Santiago, Chile, producing bag-in-box and spouted pouch packaging for institutional and retail markets. The building covers 2,000 m2.

Cascades Inc. announced an US$80 million investment for a new 400,000 sq. ft. containerboard packaging plant in Piscataway, New Jersey, creating 120 jobs. Operations are expected to begin in Q2 2018.

Turkish flexible packaging maker Korozo Ambalaj signed stock transfer and partnership agreements with private equity firm Actera Group. The transaction awaits Turkish Competition Authority approval.

Gualapack Ukraine (Italy) has started an investment project to build a third plant in Sumy, Ukraine, to produce packaging for baby food. The plant will cover over 12,000 square meters, employ nearly 400 workers, and involve an investment of almost UAH 500 million.

United Romanian Breweries Bereprod (URBB) invested over EUR 2 million to modernize the production line at its Pantelimon factory, applying aluminum foil without adhesive to beer cans. The technology was developed by Italian company EcoCap.

WestRock completed its acquisition of US-based Multi Packaging Solutions International (MPS) for $2.28bn, after receiving all regulatory approvals. WestRock paid $18 per share in cash and assumed about $873m in net debt.

Stanpac Inc announced a $45.6 million investment to add up to four new automated production lines and digital technologies at its Smithville, Ontario plant, creating 50 jobs.

Visy Board New Zealand is building a corrugated packaging plant on an 8.5-hectare site at Hamilton Airport in the Waikato, with 75 jobs. The factory is due for completion in early 2018, and construction began in April 2017.

On June 2, 2017, conTeyor International reached a binding agreement to acquire 100% of VMT ECOPACK from Rabo Private Equity and OX. The acquisition creates a leading returnable packaging solution provider in plastics and textiles.

pladis signed a preferred supplier agreement with Bosch Packaging Technology at interpack 2017, making Bosch a worldwide preferred supplier of process and packaging technology for bakery, chocolate, and confectionery products.

Edmonton-based Jet Label & Packaging acquired United Label Company of Coquitlam, British Columbia, in summer 2017. The deal expands Jet Label's mass-market retail customer base and adds production capacity, with new machinery planned for 2018.

Pratt Industries completed its 388,000 sq ft corrugated packaging plant in the Rockwall Technology Park, Texas, in June 2017 after breaking ground in October 2016, with an initial $50 million investment in recycled packaging production.

ASX-listed YPB Group signed a three-year anti-counterfeit and consumer engagement solutions contract with packaging tube maker Kim Pai Impact. No contract value was disclosed.

Champion Container acquired Jachts Columbia Can, a Paterson, New Jersey distributor of packaging containers founded in 1987. The deal was completed in June 2017.

Jindal Poly Films is in advanced negotiations to acquire the European operations of DuPont Teijin Films for approximately Rs 2,000 crore ($300 million). The deal would make Jindal the world's largest in the category.

Package Concepts and Materials is adding a 30,000-square-foot, $3 million expansion to its meat and poultry processing plant in Greenville, South Carolina, to enhance production.