US packaging producer Scholle Packaging (Northlake, Illinois; www.scholle.com) and its Dutch competitor, Innovative Packaging Network Europe (IPN, Tilburg; www.ipn-group.com) have decided to follow the old adage that "two heads are better than one" and are combining their businesses. With the two entities joining capabilities, it become a global leader of performance packaging with more than 2,000 employees and production sites in North America, Europe, Australia, China, India and Latin America. No financial details of the transaction have been provided.

The portfolios of each company extend the reach they will have in the future as a single entity: Scholle is the leading bag-in-box provider for foodstuff, beverages and industrial applications in the European market – see Plasteurope.com of 15.10.2008 – with the Dutch injection moulding specialist providing innovative design as well as experience in flexible packaging components such as connectors, spouts and pumps for pouches to the deal.

The two companies plan to retain their respective brand identities and to continue running their businesses independently. The Midwest-based performance packager, which is part of the Scholle Corp (Irvine, California) is – with annual revenues of around USD 160m – the larger and more international of the two new partners. Its European headquarters are based in the Dutch city of Breda. IPN counts seven production sites with a total of 320 employees, including a US injection moulding production site in Peachtree City, Georgia.