Treofan (Raunheim / Germany; www.treofan.com) has sold its Belgian BOPP films subsidiary, Treofan Benelux, to Crystal Amaranth – see Plasteurope.com of 13.09.2010 – for an undisclosed sum. The Belgian company, which employs 100 people, operates a production site at Liège. At the same time, the German-based group signed a tolling agreement with the new owner for up to 20,000 t/y of BOPP film annually. The deal also includes a distribution agreement for “certain Treofan products.”

Luxembourg-based Crystal Amaranth is a buyout vehicle owned by Gabriel Catania and Rens Korevaar, two former senior managers of ExxonMobil Chemical Films Europe. Like Treofan, Exxon Mobil is one of the world’s leading producers of BOPP film.

In announcing its divestment intentions, Treofan said it planned to concentrate on producing a smaller range of speciality BOPP films for tobacco, electronics, IML labels and “very few” packaging applications. CEO Carlo Ranucci noted that producers with a “very low structural cost base” are entering the global market. The 2008 acquisition of Radici Film (San Giorgio di Nogaro / Italy), for example, made United Arab Emirates-based Taghleef Industries (Ti, Dubai; www.ti-films.com) one of the world’s largest BOPP film manufacturers.