SICPA  Siegwerk  mergers & acquisitions 
Germany’s Siegwerk Group plans to acquire the packaging ink division of SICPA Holding SA. A corresponding purchase agreement was signed in London on June 16, 2005. With consolidated total net sales of €613m in the packaging ink segment out of a global market volume estimated at €4.4bn, the Siegwerk Group would emerge as the world’s second-largest manufacturer of packaging ink.

Headquartered at Siegburg near Cologne, the 75 year old Siegwerk Group would move up to become one of the world’s top five ink manufacturers with consolidated total net sales of €773m out of a total estimated global market volume of €10.4bn.

Regulatory approval is expected from the anti-trust authorities during the northern summer months. Meanwhile, SICPA Holding SA will continue to operate its security ink and systems business out of its headquarters at Prilly, Lausanne in Switzerland.

“The acquisition is a major step towards the Siegwerk Group consolidating its worldwide presence and positioning as a global player,” says Siegwerk president and CEO, Herbert Forker. “We can now supply globally operating converters as well as national clients in every country in the world and support them in application engineering. This also makes us an interesting partner for the major brand companies.”

The new Siegwerk Group packaging structure combines the reputation of these two highly successful ink manufacturers for product quality and excellence in customer service.

The new group will possess an enhanced capability to meet worldwide located customer requirements. Siegwerk Group is well positioned in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, North Africa, South-East Asia and, since the purchase of CCI in December 2003, also in the United States.

SICPA’s Packaging Ink Division supplements this positioning with its strong presence in Southern Europe, Turkey, Scandinavia and Russia including its neighboring states, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, South America as well as in China, India and Australia.

On the product side, the expertise of Siegwerk Group in the areas of film and foil printing (flexible packaging for foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and hygiene items), paper labels (high-quality labels for bottled drinks) and wallpaper printing is being expanded by the know-how of SICPA’s Packaging Ink Division in tobacco packaging and foil labels, as well as in the corrugated board sector and with other applications.

In addition to packaging ink, Siegwerk Group produces ink for print media. In this segment Siegwerk Group is the market leader in Europe and South America in the field of publication gravure ink (magazines and catalogues), and ranks among the top five European providers of web offset ink.

Following the acquisition by the investment company CVC Capital Partners and the merger of the ink divisions of BASF and ANI (previously Akzo Nobel Inks) to form the new company “XSys”, this is the second major acquisition in the printing ink industry within a few months.

The Siegwerk Group is the third-largest European printing ink manufacturer with 1300 employees and recorded net annual sales revenues of €375m in 2004. The company has ten subsidiaries worldwide and is represented in over 50 other countries.

Siegwerk was founded in 1830 and ranks among the oldest family-owned companies in Europe. With numerous patent applications, the Siegwerk Group has established itself as a global innovation leader. The company occupies second position in the market for packaging ink. With ink for publication gravure the Siegwerk Group is the market leader in Europe and South America, as well as the number three in North America. In the web offset sector the company ranks among the top five providers in Europe in terms of sales revenues.

With its strategic repositioning SICPA, already a global leader in inks for banknotes and documents of value, will focus on its highly successful security inks and systems businesses for government and industry.

For over 70 years SICPA has been the preferred supplier of security inks for the majority of the world’s banknotes. Building on its reputation as a trusted advisor to central banks and governments, SICPA has a rapidly growing product security business developing a strong position in the field of protecting products for both governments and brand owners against the risks of counterfeiting and fraud.

Every day, millions of people rely on SICPA to protect the integrity and value of their currency, personal identity and consumer goods. SICPA’s mission is to “create a climate of trust in a world of uncertainty” by protecting society in three different ways:

Firstly, by protecting banknotes with high security inks, people have confidence in the integrity of their currency.

Secondly, by securing the authenticity of products for brand owners from medicines, water and food, to vehicle parts and luxury goods, people can have confidence in the products they use.

Thirdly, by protecting tax revenues using SICPATRACE Track and Trace systems, governments and tax payers can be sure of the tax collection process.