Further concentration in the European plastics packaging industry: For approx. $ 40m the US company W.R. Grace & Co – European HQ: Grace Industrial Chemicals Inc. (Av. Montchoisi, CH-1001 Lausanne) – took over Schurpack Multiflex GmbH (Philip-Reis-Str. 5, D-24921 Flensburg) from the Schur International A/S (DK-8700 Horsens). The German company produces flexible packaging materials in the form of multi-layer films, shrink bags and flat bags for the European food processing industry. Jean-Louis Grèze, President of Grace Packaging: "The acquisition of Schurpack Multiflex fits excellently into the Cryovac division of Grace; customers in the food industry are offered an even wider range of improved products through this. Moreover, Grace Packaging's production plants for co-extruded compound foils are reinforced by Schurpack Multiflex's production plants and thus the possibility of even better service to our customers is created."

Hans Schur, President of Schur International, said that the reason for the sale was that through the take-over by Grace, a group of packaging companies for high-quality, high-performance multi-layer foils would be created which would be fully in the interests of an optimised customer service and which would be of advantage for Schurpack Multiflex GmbH's employees. The Schur group with 2000 employees is one of the oldest family-owned packaging companies in the world (founded 1846). It has production plants in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the USA. The company's activities focus on four areas: folding cardboard boxes, flexible packaging materials, packaging machines and trading area including customer service. The companies of the Schur Group in St. Joseph, Missouri/USA (Schurpack Inc), which continue to be active in the US, Canadian and Mexican markets which they will supply as previously with coextruded, multi-layered barrier-layer foils, are not effected by the take-over.

Grace Packaging in Germany: Grace GmbH (PO Box 1480, D-22804 Norderstedt).