Packaging remains a core activity for the Viag group, managing board member Rainer Grohe said at the opening of the new European headquarters of subsidiary Schmalbach-Lubeca AG / Continental Can Europe in Ratingen (Kaiserswerther Str. 115, D-40880 Ratingen). With DM 12 bn total sales and DM 6.5 bn in the packaging sector, the three Viag companies Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, Gerresheimer Glas AG (Mörsenbroicher Weg 191, D-40470 Düsseldorf) and VAW Aluminium (Aluminiumstr. 1, D-41515 Grevenbroich) make "a substantial contribution" to sales and earnings, said Grohe, who is also chairman of Schmalbach Lubeca's supervisory board. He expressed optimism that "the company is well equipped to face up to increasingly fierce international competition."

Ratingen will coordinate German and international business activities, which previously were split between Brunswick, Hanover, Deventer and Antwerp. According to Schmalbach-Lubeca md Hanno C. Fiedler, the site in Germany was chosen because of its geographical location at the heart of the European business world. In association with Continental Can Europe, Schmalbach-Lubeca has 68 production sites in Europe, North and South America and China. Its five packaging business areas PET, synthetics, metal, beverage and white cap tops are operated as independent profit centres. In 1995, these group segments, which employ 12,600, had sales of more than DM 4bn.