Mumbai, April 12: Essel Propack Ltd, a leading manufacturer of laminated tubes, has acquired a 100 per cent stake in Telcon Packaging of the UK for an undisclosed sum.

Telcon Packaging has a 12 per cent market share of laminated tubes in the UK and is a leading supplier in Europe.

The acquisition has been made through Lamitube Technologies Ltd of Mauritius, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

Essel Propack vice-chairman and managing director Ashok Goel said, ?The acquisition of Telcon Packaging is a continuation of our stated strategic intent for Europe and the Americas. With this move, we have set our feet firmly in the UK market. We expect this step to result in further consolidation of laminated tube manufacturing in Europe.?

He added that the acquisition will make the company knowledgeable about the two prevalent technologies for making laminated tubes. Further, Essel will take advantage of its strong global relationships with major customers to optimise the utilisation of the spare production capacity of Telcon Packaging.

?This strategic move provides the company with a local manufacturing base in the UK, which in turn will strengthen the company?s chances of winning major contracts in the UK and Europe. Further, this acquisition can be termed as a major move towards the company?s consolidation in the Europe market,? he said.

Essel Propack plans to improve employee skills at Telcon Packaging.

The company said it plans to introduce various efficiency improvement tools in due course for the enhancement of employee skills and efficiency levels.

Essel Propack, which caters to companies in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food and industrial sectors has manufacturing presence in China, the US, Germany, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Philippines, Indonesia, Egypt and Nepal, besides India. It has garnered 30 per cent of the global market share.

At present, the company is in the process of setting up a laminated tube manufacturing plant in Russia and a similar facility in Himachal Pradesh. It has recently acquired Arista Tubes of UK, a leading manufacturer of plastic seamless tubes, which are used in the personal care, toiletries and pharmaceutical sectors, in a move to consolidate seamless plastic tubes business.

In December 2000, Essel acquired the tubing operations of the Propack group. Propack was the fourth largest laminated tube manufacturer in the world with operations in China, the Philippines, Columbia, Venezuela, Indonesia and Mexico. In 2003, the company set up a manufacturing plant at Danville in the US.