The Manuli family has sold its 90% stake in Manuli PackagingS.p.a (I-20124 Milano; www.manulipackaging.it) for an undisclosed sum to private equity group Equinox Investment Company SCA (45-47 Boulevard de la Petrusse, L-2320 Luxembourg). Equinox investors include such leading Italian banks and industrial groups as Banca Intesa and Pirelli. The Manuli group takes in Italian companies Manuli Stretch (LLDPE) and Manuli Film (BOPP) as well as subsidiaries in Germany, the UK, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, Argentina and Brazil. With Manuli Stretch Deutschland (D-06258 Schkopau) the group was one of the early investors in the eastern German chemicals-plastics sector following reunification.

Manuli Packaging, which regards itself as world market leader for stretch film, had sales of around EUR 266m in 2001 and reported an operating profit of EUR 9m. Following the replacement of an older plant at Aprilla, Italy, with a modern line at Pozzili, the company now has capacity in Italy to produce 110,000 t/y of stretech film, along with 60,000 t/y at Schkopau and 12,000 t/y in Argentina. In December of this year, the company will start up a new production line at Schkopau with an undisclosed capacity.

• e-Service:
Manuli annual report 2001(Italian-English) as PDF document (646 KB)