DIC acquires New Zealand’s Pacific Inks
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- Published on Friday, 13 January 2012 00:57
JAPAN – Chemicals and printing inks giant DIC Corporation has acquired New Zealand’s Pacific Inks Limited.
DIC (formerly known as Dainippon Ink and Chemicals)’s wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore, DIC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, made the acquisition agreement with Pacific Inks in December, for an undisclosed sum.
In addition to its mother plant in Auckland, New Zealand, Pacific Inks has subsidiaries in Oceania (Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia), Asia (Singapore, Malaysia and China) and the United Kingdom. With a product lineup centered on packaging inks for corrugated board, Pacific Inks enjoys a particularly favorable reputation for its environment-friendly water-based flexo inks.
DIC said the acquisition of Pacific Inks will help the Japanese company expand its product offerings and build up its operations in Asia Pacific.
“In recent years, DIC has addressed the need to fortify its capabilities in the packaging inks business as a principal strategic theme,” the company said in its press statement. “This acquisition will enable DIC to add water-based flexo inks to its portfolio and strengthen its operations, particularly in the Asia–Pacific region where environmental awareness is increasing rapidly.
“This, together with Pacific Inks’ proprietary Accubatch system (an automatic ink dispensing and blending system which enables customers to blend their own inks on-site, with the intermediates and varnishes readily available on the Accubatch) and DIC’s own extensive range of products and global network, will position DIC to respond effectively to expanding demand for packaging inks.”
According to DIC, packaging inks demand is still consistent in developed countries, while in Asia Pacific, demand is expected to increase be about 10% each year “for the foreseeable future”.
“Thanks to a reinforced product lineup and broad commercial rights, including key major customers, and to the addition of water-based flexo inks to the lineup of products generated by its existing facilities, DIC forecasts this acquisition will add \2.5 billion to annual net sales by fiscal 2015,” the company predicts.
“By rationalizing existing facilities and plants newly acquired from Pacific Inks in the Asia–Pacific region, DIC will also strive to further improve production efficiency.”
