These two agreements concern an industrial partnership with a specialty paper producer in China and the acquisition of a research and development center in France.
Both facilities were part of the Arjowiggins Group.
The first operation aims to consolidate Fedrigoni's presence in the Asian market, the second is a further step towards strengthening the company's competencies in research, development and innovation in the fields of RFID, printed electronics and advanced research in the field of paper media.
The Fedrigoni Group, a leading global player in the production of high value-added specialty papers for luxury packaging and other creative applications, high-end labels and self-adhesive materials, has signed two strategic agreements. The first is an industrial partnership with a specialized translucent paper producer in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. As part of the agreement, Fedrigoni provided a loan to the pool formed by two former Arjowiggins executives for the acquisition, in exchange for a purchase option giving Fedrigoni the option to take over the business in the long term.
The second agreement concerns the acquisition of the Grenoble Research and Development Center, which will enable Fedrigoni to accelerate its pace of product innovation in the areas of RFID, printed electronics and advanced paper research. Both companies were previously part of the Arjowiggins group, which was placed in receivership last September.
The Quzhou-based specialty paper manufacturer is a leading global player in the production and distribution of translucent papers (sold under the Gateway, Idem and Sylvicta brands) for applications such as industrial design, graphic solutions, consumer electronics, food and luxury packaging. Fedrigoni thus strengthens its presence in the Asian market, where the group already has an extensive distribution network in China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh, as well as 11 warehouses and a self-adhesive materials production plant in Hefei. Today, the Quzhou production plant has 130 employees and produces about 7,000 tons of translucent paper per year. In addition to strengthening its geographical presence in Asia, this transaction will allow Fedrigoni - thanks to the newly acquired production competencies - to further expand its product portfolio in the translucent paper segment, which has the potential to increasingly replace plastic in packaging with a fully recyclable single-material solution through the (award-winning) Sylvicta brand. Product innovation related to the transition from plastic to paper is a major investment area for Fedrigoni and a key pillar of its ESG strategy and roadmap to 2030.
The acquisition of the specialized research and development center in Grenoble - including employees, machinery, patents and trademarks, including the Powercoat brand - will enhance Fedrigoni's capabilities in testing and prototyping solutions for RFID, printed electronics and advanced paper-based research. The application areas are vast, both in the self-adhesive label market and in the luxury packaging market: from solutions to protect brands against counterfeiting to product and goods traceability, also for sustainability purposes (e.g. CO2 This transaction will also allow Fedrigoni to strengthen its capacity for innovation in the field of cellulose-based materials, benefiting from its relationships with the existing ecosystem, particularly in the Grenoble area, with entities such as Fedrigoni, the European Union and the United States. This transaction will also allow Fedrigoni to strengthen its innovation capacity in the field of cellulose-based materials, benefiting from its relationships with the existing ecosystem, especially in the Grenoble area, with entities such as the Grenoble International Paper School (INP - Pagora) and the Paper Technical Center (CTP).
Despite the situation of global instability and geopolitical volatility, Fedrigoni is continuing its strategic expansion path to consolidate its position as a global player in the specialty paper industry after the recent acquisitions of Guarro Casas in Spain (already part of the Arjowiggins group) and Papeterie Zuber Rieder in France, as well as its partnership with Mohawk in the United States.
