FDBusiness.com

Italian kit manufacturer Industria Macchine Automatiche (IMA) has announced that it has made a strategic investment in the Ilapak Group

Both firms did not disclose the amount of the investment.

Swiss kit firm Ilapak has a current turnover of €90m.  Ilapak founder and chairman Roger Levy said: “Ilapak has been looking for a leading strategic partner with strong packaging credentials for a number of years to support an important step change in our growth.

“We are proud to be working with IMA: we recognise they are the best industrial partner in the market to underpin an important new phase in Ilapak’s incredible growth story as we continue to develop new packaging technologies, solutions and the after-sales support our customers are asking for, and in doing so, continue to extend our leading position around the world.”

IMA said it had revenues worth €800m and is well-known in the design and manufacture of processing and packaging lines for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tea, coffee and food.

‘Supply side experience’

IMA president and chief executive Alberto Vacchi said: “We are pleased to finalise our agreement reached today with the Levy family, given our presence in the food sector and our interest in Ilapak.

“We are confident that with our supply side experience in particular we can further extend Ilapak’s leadership position in markets around the world.

“Furthermore it is also a great pleasure to launch a co-operation with the Levy family which has been present for over 40 years in the market of primary packaging in the food sector. It is certainly in our interests, concluded the president of IMA, to capitalise on the experience of our new partners.”