Bilcare buys INEOS to expand pharma packaging business

India's Bilcare will pay 100 million euros to acquire the films business of chemical company group INEOS in a deal which further consolidates its position in the pharmaceutical packaging sector.

INEOS' films business is a supplier of polymer-based films to a number of industries, including pharmaceuticals for use in blister packaging, but is no longer a core business for the group, according to chief executive Iain Hogan.

"This agreement with Bilcare will put INEOS Films assets and people at the centre of a new business with the innovation and drive necessary for it to grow and further develop, which is good for the business and its customers globally," he said.

By merging with INEOS Films Bilcare brings one of its major competitors in the pharma packaging sector in-house, and at a stroke puts it in a much stronger position in the polymer-based films market, which is currently led by Klockner Pentaplast.

The market for pharmaceutical films has been growing in recent years as a result of increasing use of blister packaging to protect dosage forms and provide convenience to patients. Almost all solid dose medicines in Europe come in blisters, although in the US the situation is reversed with the majority distributed in bottles.

INEOS Films has sales of around 240 million euros a year and operates three manufacturing sites in Germany, two in Italy, another two in India and one in Delaware, USA. Meanwhile, Bilcare has its own film production facilities in Philadelphia, USA, India and Singapore.

The division's 1,300 employees will all join Bilcare and boost the company's headcount dramatically from its current level of just 500 staff.

Bilcare's business is split into three areas: a pharmaceutical packaging innovations division into which the INEOS Films business will integrate; manufacturing clinical trial materials; and brand protection with its authentication and track-and-trace technology.

The deal is due to complete in late August, according to the two companies.

Phil Taylor