United States Thin Film Manufacturer Inteplast Acquires German Competitor Perga

American film manufacturer Inteplast has taken its first step into the European market by announcing the acquisition of smaller competitor Perga from investment firm Serafin. The financial details of the transaction have not yet been disclosed.

Photo: Perga

After the acquisition is completed, Perga’s production site in Walldürn will become the sixth plant under the Interplast Engineering Films division. According to General Manager Fabian Wilhelms, Perga mainly produces monomaterial films, co-extruded films, as well as packaging products under the Pergafilm and Allfolin brands, with raw materials primarily consisting of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE).

According to the latest information released by Serafin, Perga's sales amount to 60 million euros, with approximately 200 employees. The company recycles its own production waste, both selling the recovered materials externally and reusing them in the production process.

This German investment company has recently been involved in bankruptcy-related negotiations with the domestic filament manufacturer Perlon. Its investment portfolio also includes the sheet manufacturer Exolon.

Interplast is significantly larger in scale, with the latest sales reaching $3.45 billion (approximately €3 billion). It has 55 factories and branches worldwide and employs about 8,000 people. In addition to plastic bags and shopping bags, Interplast also produces PET containers, PVC sheets, paper packaging, and medical products.

According to the company spokesperson, the revenue of its film business unit was $2.24 billion, with biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films accounting for approximately $500 million. The turnover of the sheet department was $1.21 billion.

According to sources from the United States, under the leadership of John Young, Interplast is the market leader in this field in North America, occupying more than 30% of the market share in the biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film market. Hong Kong consulting firm PW Consulting estimates its annual BOPP film production capacity to be approximately 220,000 tons. Although the company is continuously expanding globally, its share in the global market is about 1.5%—a proportion that may be enough to place it among the top ten manufacturers worldwide, but at the lower end of the list.