In mid-November, the chief executives of two leading European plastic pallet, box and container box producers announced that their two companies would merge. Until a joint brand is announced, both Belgium’s Innova Packaging Systems (IPS, Ieper; www.ips-belgium.com) and Germany’s Cabka (Weira; www.cabka.com) will retain their own labels. The merger was announced on 15 November by CEOs Gat Ramon, Jacques Vanmoortel and Richard Metzler – further details were not provided.

The portfolios of the two companies complement each other, with Cabka specialised on inexpensive one-way pallets for export, while IPS’ focus is on higher-priced multi-way pallets. In geographical terms, too, the merger is set to benefit both groups. Whereas Cabka has a strong presence in Germany, North America and Spain, IPS is specialised on the Benelux countries, the UK, Ireland, France and Spain.

“We want to organically grow together by way of a strong range and continuous innovation-based expansion,” said Ramon. Part of the future plan includes setting up a production line including a recycling plant for mixed plastics in Ypres / Belgium.

Once the merger is complete, the new company will employ 390 workers, two-thirds of which will come from Cabka. The companies said they do not plan any changes to the overall workforce.