International supplier of plastic packaging ALPLA – which produces packaging for the food and beverage industry – last month bought South Africa-based packaging specialist Boxmore Packaging.

Boxmore, headquartered in Samrand, in Johannesburg, specialises in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) preforms, PET bottles and closures, and currently employs around 1 000 personnel at nine locations.

“Africa is an attractive growth market for us. With the purchase of Boxmore Packaging, we now also have a broad base for entering the market in South Africa, in addition to our activities with ALPLA TABA, in North Africa,” says ALPLA CEO Günther Lehner.
ALPLA has acquired 100% of Boxmore Packaging and all employees and locations fall under ALPLA.

Further, ALPLA has decided that the management structure will remain the same.

The current board, under the leadership of Boxmore CEO Len Engelbrecht, will continue to manage the existing Boxmore business and, in addition, will assume responsibility for the integration and management of the existing ALPLA South African business.

For the foreseeable future, the company will continue to operate under the existing name as a member of ALPLA Group. 

Founded in 1995, Boxmore Packaging is seen as a market leader for PET preforms and bottles, as well as closures, in Southern Africa.

Its employees currently manufacture more than four-billion products each year at the nine production locations across South Africa.

Boxmore’s customers are located in more than 20 African countries, as well as on islands in the Indian Ocean.

“Both the products and customer structure of Boxmore suit ALPLA’s corporate structure very well.

“The active customer base includes numerous international consumer goods companies and ALPLA’s long-term cus­tomers, but also local customers previously unknown to ALPLA,” emphasises ALPLA Africa, Middle East and Turkey regional director Christoph Riedlsperger.

“Our combined ambition to prioritise growth in Africa is a very exciting oppor­tunity and one that we’ll be exploring through Boxmore’s current footprint and existing relationships in sub-Saharan Africa,” Engelbrecht explains.

The takeover was signed on July 5 and implementation remains subject to the required legal and regulatory approval by the competition authorities.

The contract parties have reached a confidentiality agreement regarding the financial details.
ALPLA has operated a production location in Johannesburg since 2014 and, at the end of 2015, ALPLA took over the Egyptian location of equipment manufacturer Argo South Africa in El Obour, Egypt.

In March last year, ALPLA strengthened its market presence in North Africa and the Middle East through a joint venture with Egyptian plastic fabricator Taba Group.

Since early this year, the company has operated under the name ALPLA TABA.

With the added Boxmore locations, ALPLA now owns 13 production facilities in Africa. ALPLA is a leading company in the field of packaging solutions, with more than 18 300 employees at 172 locations across 45 countries producing packaging for brands in the food, beverage, cosmetics and cleaning industries.