Smith Anderson is setting up a joint venture with a major packaging supplier to open a new facility in the south of Poland, with McDonald's Europe supporting the venture. Staff will be trained in Kirkcaldy.

Kirkcaldy-based Smith Anderson has agreed a three-year extension to supply paper bags to McDonald's, worth £35 million, following a competitive tender. The deal runs to at least 2020 and extends supply into Poland and central eastern Europe.

San Miguel Yamamura will break ground within two months on a glass manufacturing plant with 800-metric ton capacity in Davao Occidental, Philippines. The $700 million facility is expected to be completed in 24 months and will serve export markets.

GualapackGroup has entered a strategic agreement with Aptar to launch a premade 'no-spill' spouted pouch, combining Gualapack's Cheerpack pouch with Aptar's SimpliSqueeze valve.

GualapackGroup announced the acquisition of Mexican converter Excel Nobleza S.A.P.I. de C.V., establishing a laminates manufacturing presence in Mexico, with the Herrero family remaining in management.

Visy Board New Zealand will build a second corrugated packaging plant on an 8.5 hectare site at Hamilton Airport in the Waipa District, with a NZ$100 million investment. Construction started in April 2017.

Oracle Packaging, a provider of flexible packaging solutions, has introduced a new extrusion line to its North Carolina manufacturing facility.

Klöckner Pentaplast completed its acquisition of LINPAC Senior Holdings and its subsidiaries, a European food packaging film producer, creating a film group with annual revenues above $2 billion.

Rayonier Advanced Materials agreed to acquire Tembec in a deal with a purchase price of about US$807 million including US$487 million of net debt assumed, with Tembec shareholders receiving C$4.05 cash or shares.

Sealed Air opened a production line for Korrvu retention packaging at its Qingpu facility in Shanghai, with an investment of more than US$1 million, bringing the site to nine lines.

Bosch Packaging Technology signed a global preferred supplier agreement with Pladis for process and packaging technology for bakery, chocolate, and confectionery products. The agreement covers automation technology and packaging machines.

WestRock agreed to acquire five corrugated converting facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Louisiana from U.S. Corrugated Holdings for about $192 million in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in June 2017.

Thielmann, a stainless steel beverage container manufacturer, opened its U.S. keg facility in Houston, Texas on May 23, 2017. The site aims to offer kegs with shorter lead times to North American customers.

Fullmer built a 296,000 sq ft concrete tilt-up warehouse for bottle maker Plastipak Packaging in Victorville, California, within the Southern California Logistics Centre. The plant blow-molds bottles for an adjacent Dr Pepper bottling facility and is Gold LEED certified.

Multivac is building a €20 million ($22 million) factory in Bozhurishte, Bulgaria, with the first phase of the 20,000m² facility to be completed in August 2017. The site will produce parts and components for packaging machines.

Sternenfrucht Produktions GmbH & Co. KG has begun production on a CFA 209 filling machine from SIG Combibloc at its new facility in Liebenburg, Germany, for aseptic beverage filling.

Treofan is spending EUR 7.5 million to install a new high-performance coating machine at its Battipaglia, Italy site, with annual capacity of 4,000 tonnes. Production is scheduled to begin in Q2 2018.

International Paper invested more than $90 million to increase energy efficiency at its Pensacola, Florida mill, retaining 424 employees and adding 12. A further $20 million went to environmental controls and $68 million to a water quality project.

TNI Packaging, LLC, a food-industry packaging supplies manufacturer in West Chicago, was purchased by Visko/TeePak, a global casings maker; terms were not disclosed. Production continues at the West Chicago site and in Malaysia.

Romcarton S.A. is building a new corrugated cardboard packaging factory in Popesti-Leordeni, Ilfov County, near Bucharest, with a total investment of EUR 27.5 million, financed partly by a EUR 23.4 million BCR credit, with completion expected by end of 2017.

RPC BPI Refuse signed three contracts across healthcare, facilities management, and cleaning sectors, including a four-year contract with NHS Supply Chain worth approximately £20 million, a framework with ESPO, and a contract with Mayflower Washroom Solutions. The contracts are expected to earn around £6 million per annum.

Anheuser-Busch and its Metal Container Corporation unit held a ribbon cutting for a new aluminum bottle line at the Jacksonville plant. The $175 million expansion created 75 new jobs.

Anheuser-Busch InBev announced a capital expenditure program of close to $500 million in 2017 and $2 billion through 2020 for its U.S. brewing operations. Projects include brewery and distribution upgrades, packaging and sustainability improvements, and new distribution facilities in Los Angeles and Columbus.

California-based packaging designer and manufacturer Maxco Supply selected Infor M3 ERP and Infor HCM, WFM and XM to replace an aging Oracle system. The selection followed a search of more than a year that evaluated a dozen vendors.

BluePrint Automation (BPA) has moved into a new 140,000 sq ft facility in Woerden, Netherlands. Sister company BPA Racupack will join from Culemborg to combine case packing and wrap-around expertise.

3M will invest $34.5 million to expand its sponge manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, New York, retaining 308 jobs and creating 39 new positions. The project includes new high-speed wrapping equipment.

Material-Plastik Ltd. begins a EUR 10 million expansion, building a new 6,000-square-meter factory hall and upgrading machinery to double production capacity of polyethylene film products.

CROWN Imballaggi Italia, part of Crown Holdings, has installed an AVT Titan 100% print inspection system at its Calerno plant in Italy. The system supports a new KBA six-colour printing press for metal packaging. It was reported on 11 May 2017.

Turkish packaging maker Ispak Ambalaj has opened a €70 million flexible packaging facility in Izmit. The plant raises the company's annual flexible packaging capacity to 40,000 tonnes and serves European and North American markets. It was reported on 10 May 2017.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), together with Esas Holding and Actera, has acquired a majority stake in Korozo Ambalaj, a Turkish flexible packaging producer. The deal includes a USD 1 million Clean Technology Fund loan to reduce waste. It was reported on 10 May 2017.

Sigma Plastics Group acquired BJK Flexible Packaging, adding 45 million pounds of blown film capacity and serving food packaging and other end markets in Kentucky.

Inland completed installation of an HP Indigo 20000 digital press at its Neenah, Wisconsin facility to expand digital printing capabilities for flexible packaging, shrink sleeves, and pressure sensitive products.

Proactive Packaging and Display LLC, a portfolio company of CK Pearl Fund, was sold to New-Indy Containerboard LLC, a joint venture of Schwarz Partners and Kraft Group.

New-Indy JV Corp., a joint venture of Kraft Group and Schwarz Partners, agreed to acquire Carolina Container Company, a longtime leader in corrugated packaging based in High Point, North Carolina.

AMB, an Italian manufacturer of layered film for food packaging, announced the opening of a new plant in Amaro, Italy, with an investment of approximately €6.6 million. The plant will add 15,000 tons of capacity initially, with plans to double by 2018, and create 41 jobs initially, growing to 110.

Active Capital Company (ACC) acquired a majority stake in Codi Group, a Netherlands-based wet wipes manufacturer, from Value Enhancement Partners. The deal value is estimated between €10 million and €20 million.

NIBE Industrier AB acquired 80% of the shares of HT S.p.A., an Italian manufacturer of heating solutions for HVAC, commercial food products, packaging and industrial applications. HT has facilities in Italy and Romania, with 2016 revenue of approximately EUR 23 million and 330 employees.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto inaugurated Grupo Modelo's brewery in Hunucmá, Yucatán, with initial capacity of 5 million hectoliters a year and an aluminum can plant producing 1 billion cans a year, built for 8.5 billion pesos.

Mark Andy Inc., a Dover Corporation company, has acquired Comco, a global supplier of narrow and mid-web flexographic printing presses for folding carton and flexible packaging markets.

Merck KGaA and Swiss UV coatings firm Schmid Rhyner are partnering to bring Merck's three-dimensional-effect pearlescent pigment technology to the package printing market.

Thimm Group invested a total of 62 million euros in 2016, including a new corrugated cardboard plant in Bavaria, a digital web press at Ilsenburg and expansions of packaging plants in Germersheim and Puebla, Mexico.

Multivac has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Meyn Food Processing Technology and Cabinplant to sell joint processing, filling, weighing and packaging technology, focusing on poultry processing and ready meals.

Meyn Food Processing Technology, Cabinplant, and MULTIVAC have formed a strategic alliance to offer joint solutions for food producers, covering processing, filling, weighing, and packaging equipment. The cooperation includes two agreements focusing on poultry processing and ready meals, fish, and meat.

Robopac and OCME signed a share deal to develop a corporate growth strategy with international vision, strengthening their leadership in the packaging machine sector. The companies operate manufacturing and service centers in multiple countries.

Pro Mach, a packaging machinery manufacturer, has acquired Stork-Texwrap, a manufacturer of fully automatic shrink wrapping systems. The acquisition expands Pro Mach's secondary packaging product line and will maintain Texwrap's facility in Washington, Missouri.

LINDAL Group acquired 15 acres in Columbus, Indiana, to build a new 100,000-square-foot aerosol packaging production facility with a $20 million U.S. investment.

Graphic Packaging and DHL Supply Chain will make a combined $274 million investment in Northeast Louisiana, building a 1.27 million-sq-ft folding carton plant and logistics center in Monroe and creating 93 direct jobs. Graphic Packaging will also invest $120 million in its West Monroe mill.

Amcor announced an acquisition of a speciality container business in Colombia on May 3, 2017. The announcement text provided does not give the target name, price or other deal details.

Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) is divesting about three-quarters of its shares in Romaco Group to Truking Group, a Chinese engineering company. DBAG and DBAG Fund V will retain a 24.9% interest for up to three years. The sale price is more than double the original investment.

LY Company chose MachinePoint Engineering to build its new factory in Malaga for packaging wine, water and oil in carton containers, with financing and a Tetra Pak partnership arranged through MachinePoint. The article is dated 2 May 2017.