Flint to buy Torda as expansion strategy continues
Flint confirmed Friday it had signed the deal to takeover the Swedish company, which supplies inks for food packaging. Torda has a strong presence in Northern Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East as well as in Eastern Europe. The company generated revenues of approximately €23m in 2009, said Flint.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2010, subject to the approval of the antitrust authorities. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Dr Dirk Aulbert, Flint’s president of global packaging and narrow web division, said of Torda: “The company’s business model and performance is an excellent fit for our strategy. [Its] setup, especially in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East, ideally complements and expands our network of manufacturing and service facilities into these growth markets."
Flint CEO and chairman Charles Knott said the acquisition strengthened its position in “in the faster growing markets”. He added that Torda had a number of “excellent technology positions” that Flint hoped to leverage throughout its global organisation.
Torda described itself as having “a strong foothold in the food packaging sector”.
Expansion strategy
The buy marks the latest step in the last 12 months by Flint to bolster its expansion in the Eastern European market. In 2009, the group acquired the Russian packaging ink manufacturer and distributor Premo Inks. Last month, the firm announced the expansion of its liquid packaging and sheetfed inks plant at Konstantynow Lodzki, Poland, in a bid to meet increased demand.
Flint said it had taken the decision to improve the infrastructure and expand capacity after 10 year’s of growth in Poland meant the original site layout was “coming close to its limits”. The project is expected to be completed by May 2010.
The new site setup will include extended storage and blending areas for solvent and water based inks as well as a sheetfed mixing area. The new set up of the Polish operations would also support the company’s growth in other Central Eastern European markets, said Flint.
Flint Group was created by the union of XSYS Print Solutions and Flint Ink Corporation in late 2005. Flint Ink was founded in the US in 1920. Its 2008 revenues were € 2.4 billion (US$ 3.5 billion) and the company has about 7,300 employees worldwide.
