Vetropack acquires Slovakia facility

Vetropack, a leading Swiss manufacturer of glass packaging, has agreed to acquire the Slovakian glassworks Skloobal, Nemsová.

Vetropack has its group management in Bülach (Zurich), and possesses manufacturing facilities in Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Croatia. The acquisition of Skloobal, with its 600 employees, is an extension of Vetropack's strategy of expanding into Eastern Europe.

The acquisition makes Vetropack the market leader in Slovakia, and further enhances its standing within the European glass packaging industry. This step reinforces Vetropack's position as an internationally active supplier of glass packaging to the multinational food and beverage companies operating in the growing Eastern Europe markets.

The Skloobal glassworks produces 100,000 tonnes of packaging glass per annum and maintains annual sales of approximately CHF40 million (€27.3m). Half of its output is sold to the domestic market, while the remaining half is exported to the neighbouring markets in Poland, Ukraine and Hungary.

The Vetropack Group intends to operate Vetropack Nemsová in close co-operation with its production facility in the Czech town of Kyjov, approximately 90 km to the west. The company claims that integrating the Vetropack Nemsová plant into the Vetropack group will generate synergies and lead to cost reductions.

Vetropack currently employs a workforce of 2,300, and in 2001 generated CHF432 million in sales. It has five manufacturing facilities in Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Croatia, and maintains 11 melting furnaces with an aggregate production capacity of 2,600 tonnes of packaging glass per day.