Saica acquires Turkish paperboard producer

Saica, a Spain-based paper and packaging company with paperboard mills in Spain, France and the United Kingdom, has announced the acquisition of the Turkish corrugated manufacturer OMK. The acquired company employs 260 people and has annual sales of around €20 million.

"This is an important acquisition for Saica as it not only gives us a strong position in a rapidly developing market, but also enables us to better serve our key customers throughout their European operations," says Ramón Alejandro, Saica's president.

In announcing the acquisition, Saica says it sees strong growth potential for the corrugated board market in Turkey, saying it might become one of the largest in Europe. Turkey’s GDP is expected to increase by 4.5 percent between 2014 and 2020, which will result in a growing consumer market would create demand for packaging products.
Over the long term, Saica said it intended to cover the whole production chain in Turkey from recovering paper for recycling to containerboard manufacturing and processing into corrugated board.

Saica's overall production capacities amount to 2.5 million tons of recycled containerboard and 2.5 billion square meters of corrugated packaging. In addition, it recovers around 3 million tons of paper for recycling through its Saica Natur division.

The acquisition of OMK is the second for the company in 2014. In February, the company announced it would take over Microlan, a Spanish manufacturer of containerboard and corrugated packaging.

Saica notes the Microlan acquisition will strengthen and complete its presence in the Spanish and Portuguese high-performance corrugated board market. The incorporation of Microlan reinforces the multinational’s aim to develop the niche for high-quality design and printed packaging in the high added-value sectors.