US paper manufacturer Neenah signed a definitive agreement to acquire Global Release Liners, the parent of Spanish release liner maker ITASA, for a cash consideration of EUR 205 million ($247 million), with closing expected the following month.

UI Investissement has entered exclusive negotiations to sell packaging maker Gault & Fremont, based in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, France, to the listed packaging group Guillin.

Nanxiong Jinye Packaging Materials won the 2021-2023 tender for shaped cigarette packaging bags from the Zhangjiajie branch of the Hunan Tobacco Company, at a winning bid of 433,500 yuan. The award notice is dated March 3, 2021.

Groupe Guillin has entered exclusive negotiations with UI Investissement to acquire Groupe Gault & Fremont, a French and Belgian maker of paper bags, cardboard boxes and baking paper with 270 employees across four sites. The announcement is dated March 2, 2021.

Constantia Copenhagen opened a new fully automated 6,000 square metre production site in Ishøj, Denmark, at the end of March 2021, with over EUR 8 million invested and capacity tripled.

Richmond-based folding carton maker Dominion Packaging has leased 144,606 square feet in the second phase of Becknell Industrial's Airport Logistics Center near Richmond International Airport, Virginia, in March 2021.

Macfarlane Group agreed to acquire protective packaging maker GWP Group in a £15 million deal, reported on March 1, 2021.

Green Bay Packaging CEO Will Kress described plans for a new state-of-the-art paper mill in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to replace the original 1940s mill. The project has cost over $500 million and is the largest single development project in Brown County history.

Verallia will invest €60 million in its Jacutinga plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil, adding a new furnace that more than doubles glass packaging production capacity. The announcement was dated 1 March 2021.

Polish beverage producer Krynica Vitamin signed a five-year contract to produce tonic-type beverages and provide glass bottle packaging services for Schweppes International Limited, valued at about PLN 10.7 million.

Latour Capital acquired a majority stake in Omni-Pac Group, an ecological moulded fibre packaging maker with over 600 employees at sites in the UK, France and Germany, from Motion Equity Partners, with management reinvesting.

Italian packaging group Grifal agreed to acquire 100% of a newco receiving the operating division of Cornelli, which makes corrugated cardboard boxes and branding for packaging, in a deal stated as EUR 1.257 billion.

SIG completed the acquisition of the remaining 50% of its Middle East and Africa joint venture, SIG Combibloc Obeikan, from Obeikan Investment Group. The business is fully consolidated from end-February 2021.

International Paper acquired the Molded Fiber division of Berkley International, Berkley MF LLC, which operates a molded fiber plant near Reno, Nevada. The purchase price was undisclosed.

Folding carton maker Malnove is spending $7.4 million to upgrade a production line and grow capacity at its Jacksonville plant, creating 10 new advanced manufacturing jobs and retaining 182.

Rootree, a Burlington, Ontario flexible packaging converter, is adding a second HP Indigo 20000 Digital Press to double its print capacity for fully compostable flexible packaging.

Ardagh Group agreed to combine its metal packaging business, Ardagh Metal Packaging, with special purpose acquisition company Gores Holdings V, with the new company to list on the NYSE under AMBP. Ardagh will keep about 80% and receive up to $3.4 billion in cash.

POLIFILM EXTRUSION GmbH acquired 100% of SAXA Packaging GmbH, which operates a blown film plant in Neukirchen/Pleiße, Germany. The deal adds broad and barrier films to POLIFILM's portfolio. The purchase price was not disclosed.

BG Container Glass (BGC) in Thailand has approved an M&A investment plan covering two companies that make plastic films, caps, PET bottles, preforms and corrugated boxes, as part of a strategy to double revenue from 10,000 to 25,000 million baht by 2025. The plan will go to the annual shareholders meeting.

Mill Rock Packaging Partners, backed by Mill Rock Capital, has acquired All Packaging Company, a custom paperboard packaging manufacturer with facilities in Utah and Colorado. Terms were not disclosed.

Berlin Packaging announced the acquisition of French glass and metal packaging companies Sodis-Uhart and Audoubert, adding more than 9,000 square meters of warehouse space in southern France. It is Berlin Packaging's eleventh European acquisition since 2016.

Harwood Private Equity completed a management buyout of UK pharmaceutical and healthcare packaging maker Medica Packaging from Sullivan Street Partners. Managing director Gerard Harford and finance director Mark Stokes led the buyout.

Vishakha Polyfab's joint venture PT Flextech Packaging with Wilmar started up a flexible packaging plant in Indonesia in January 2021, with full commissioning expected by the end of February 2021. The plant has an initial capacity of 13,500 metric tons.

Esterpet, set up by Esterform management, secured £9m of asset finance from Shawbrook Bank to buy two Starlinger rPET production lines at Sherburn-in-Elmet, Leeds, each capable of over 13,000 tonnes a year.

Swedish company PulPac entered a strategic partnership with gategroup company deSter to develop and manufacture fiber-based, single-use food packaging for airline and foodservice customers, with deSter deploying a multi-million-euro investment in new machinery.

JobsOhio provided Burrows, a Novolex brand, a $400,000 grant to invest in new machinery, equipment and infrastructure at its food-packaging plants in Franklin and Mount Vernon, Ohio, where more than 300 employees work.

Progroup started construction of its PW14 corrugated sheetfeeder plant in Stryków, Poland, investing about €72 million. The plant will produce up to 200,000 tonnes of corrugated board sheets per year from Q4 2022 and create more than 50 jobs.

UK packaging manufacturer Robinson acquired Danish company Schela Plast, reported on February 12, 2021.

Packaging maker Ate Plast will invest 10 million leva in a new plant in the Zagore industrial zone in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, which received Class A priority investment status. The investment will create 35 jobs and produce flexible films, with construction taking 3 years.

A rail spur built by Stevens-Leinweber Construction gives Georgia-Pacific's GP Corrugated 100,000-square-foot Tolleson, Arizona facility direct Union Pacific rail access, completing the Tolleson Rail Corridor project.

MM Group agreed to acquire International Paper (Poland) Holding, owner of the Kwidzyn integrated pulp and paper mill in Poland, for about EUR 670 million debt- and cash-free, with closing expected in Q3 2021.

Irish packaging group Zeus Packaging acquired Austrian food packaging solutions business Petruzalek from Italmobiliare, completing a three-year acquisition strategy. The price was undisclosed; Petruzalek reportedly had 2020 revenues of about €58 million.

Dow has signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian recycler Lucro Plastecycle to develop a closed-loop packaging solution that recycles post-consumer PE film waste using Dow virgin resins, with first shrink films expected in India later in 2021.

Irani Papel e Embalagem is expanding its Campina da Alegria packaging plant in Vargem Bonita, Santa Catarina, Brazil, with the Gaia II project adding corrugated board capacity, with estimated investment of R$150.4 million.

SCG Packaging (SCGP) plans to invest over 10 billion baht to expand its integrated packaging business in Vietnam to meet demand from consumer goods and other industries. The article is dated 10 February 2021.

SCG Packaging plans to invest US$334 million in Vietnam as part of its expansion of packaging businesses, including the Duy Tan acquisition and paper production expansion in northern Vietnam.

SCG Packaging signed a contract with Duy Tan Plastics Manufacturing Corporation, Vietnam's leading rigid plastic packaging producer, on 9 February 2021 as part of its Vietnam expansion.

Sidel supplied its Aseptic Combi Predis technology to RJ Corp, whose operating company Varun Beverages installed it at a new facility in Punjab, India, earlier in 2021. It is the first commercial dairy PET aseptic packaging line in the region.

Walmart has chosen IFCO as its exclusive reusable plastic container packaging provider for select fresh fruits and vegetables in the US under a seven-year agreement. IFCO expects to create manufacturing jobs in the US.

Contract packer Framptons has installed the UK's first SIG Combidome carton bottle filler line, the first SIG Combidome installation for plant-based beverages in Europe. The line offers three filling volumes.

IFCO and Walmart completed a seven-year agreement making IFCO Walmart's exclusive RPC packaging provider for select fresh fruits and vegetables in the U.S. IFCO expects to create U.S.-based manufacturing jobs for new RPC production.

PACCOR plans to invest more than 40 million euros in 2021 in capacity, automation, logistics and technology. The investment includes new injection molding capacity at its Ravensburg site in Germany for in-mold labeled PP cups and lids.

Helvetia Packaging is increasing capacity by 30% at its aluminium can manufacturing facility in Saarlouis, Germany, this year. The plant previously had a maximum capacity of around 1.2 billion cans and ends per year.

An affiliate of Peak Rock Capital has acquired a majority holding in AMB, an Italian maker of food packaging films, as announced on February 5, 2021.

Kaas-Pack Holland of Hoogeveen, Netherlands, awarded Robertpack a contract in 2020 for a complete cheese packaging line, now installed and operational. The line includes a box erector, Fanuc robot cells, a box closer and a palletising robot.

Netherlands-headquartered Solidus Solutions acquired Heathpak, a UK producer of solid board packaging with about 16,000 tons annual output, from owners Alan Heath and Lyndon Whitlock. Gambit Corporate Finance advised the sellers.

Ball Corporation announced a new aluminium can factory in Frutal, Minas Gerais, Brazil, with an investment of R$500 million and about 100 direct jobs. Production is expected to start in Q4 2021 with capacity of 1.5 billion cans per year.

The Pusterla 1880 group finalized the acquisition of the Adine Group, which includes box maker Adine, printer Chiffoleau and plastic thermoformer Thermoform, in France. The deal aims to strengthen its luxury packaging offer.

Plastipak Packaging signed a long-term lease with Duke Realty for 470,590 square feet at its 3200 Kingsley Road facility in Garland, Texas, consolidating warehouse locations. The company will begin occupying the expanded space in March 2021.

Graphic Packaging International announced a $100 million investment at its Texarkana, Texas mill to add swing production across SBS and CUK substrates. Start-up of swing production is expected in Q1 2022.