US medical packaging solutions firm Pacur (Oshkosh, Wisconsin; www.pacur.com) is looking to expand in Europe, and its latest step is the acquisition of France’s Carolex (Longué Jumelles; www.carolex.fr), which makes polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) flexible films. The seller is Germany’s Epsotech Holding (Jülich-Kirchberg; www.epsotech.com), a supplier of thick-walled extruded plastic sheets. No financial details were disclosed, and the transaction is expected to be finalised by the end of the year.

Pacur has been owned by US private equity investment company Gryphon Investors (San Francisco, California; www.gryphoninvestors.com) since last year. According to Pacur CEO John Carlson, the acquisition strengthens the company's focus on medical devices in Europe and expands its extrusion capabilities. Pacur’s extruded PETG films are mainly used as packaging for medical devices. Carolex also makes film for pharmaceutical and food packaging.

The French firm is Pacur's first acquisition. The Carolex management team under managing director Sylvain Forestier is to remain in place.

Epsotech said the sale of its French film subsidiary follows a shift in focus to its core business and further plans for developing its recycling strategy. “Since the Carolex product range, namely plastic packaging, is not part of the core business, it was decided at the end of last year to sell Carolex,” Epsotech Group CFO Michael Hangelmann told Plasteurope.com.

The German company, which operated as the Vitasheet Group until autumn 2018, manufactures thermoformable plastic sheets and thermoforming sheets with polyolefins and engineering polymers. After the sale of Carolex, the company expects to have 500 employees and report turnover of around EUR 160m in 2021. With manufacturing facilities in six European countries, Epsotech said it has a production capacity of around 100,000 t/y. The firm has been owned by German private equity investor Deutsche Unternehmensbeteiligungen (Munich; www.dubag.eu) since 2014.