The Oben Group (Lima, Peru; www.obengroup.com) has acquired biaxially oriented PET (BOPET) film producer Terphane (São Paulo, Brazil; www.terphane.com) for around USD 116 mn (EUR 108.4 mn) from US industrial group Tredegar (Richmond, Virginia; www.tredegar.com), whose main area of business is extruded aluminium parts. 

The former owner also has the two considerably smaller areas for brand polyethylene surface protection film for the electronics industry, and polyester films production for flexible packaging at Terphane. 

In 2022, Tredegar reported sales of USD 939 mn. With around 1,800 employees, the group produces in the Americas and Asia. The Terphane division employs around 500 and, apart from its headquarters in São Paulo, manufactures locally in Cabo de Santo Agostinho and internationally at a US site in Bloomfield, New York.

Related: Global BOPET film capacity to exceed 10 mn t/y

First-half figures show that Terphane sold just under 20,000 t of BOPET films, an 18% decline from the year-earlier period. Sales by value reportedly fell 20% to USD 65 mn, while EBITDA and EBIT were almost completely wiped out and barely remained in the black. The situation was said to be even worse for the PE surface protection films at Tredegar. 

Just a few weeks ago, the Oben Group under CEO Gonzalo Belaunde acquired a production facility for flexible packaging films in Mexico from Grupo Agusa (Apodaca, Mexico; www.kristafilms.com). With capacity in excess of 450,000 t/y for BOPP, CPP, BOPET, BOPA, and BOPE films, the Peruvian group is viewed as the leading producer of packaging films in Latin America.

The group also strengthened its presence in Europe with the acquisition of Spanish BOPP and CPP film manufacturer Poligal (Naron; www.poligal.com) two years ago.