In a move that signals its intentions to expand its Asia Pacific operations, SIG is set to acquire Visy Cartons from Visy Pak Operations, a subsidiary of Pratt Consolidated Holdings, for $70 million.

Global glass giant OI’s Australian and New Zealand operations are up for sale, in a deal that promises to be the biggest local manufacturing transaction since Nippon stealthily scooped up the Orora Fibre Packaging business. Writing exclusively for PKN, Paul Allen of Margin Partners provides insights into the upside for potential buyers.

Australian coding and labelling specialist Matthews Australasia has launched a new online toolkit aimed at supporting Australian manufacturers who supply products to any of the major supermarkets.

Two major co-packing companies – LJM NSW and Multipack – have merged to create market-leading NSW pure play co-packer Multipack LJM.

Technology developer EFI is launching PackCentral, an online web-to-pack solution, which it says will enable packaging converters to digitally transform their businesses and grow profitability through new revenue streams and reduced sales costs.

In a sign of the growing e-commerce market, Amazon is opening its third fulfilment centre in Australia – its first on the west coast.

Woolworths is partnering with TerraCycle to bring Loop, the global zero-waste reusable packaging solution, to Australia.

Refillable pouches made from recycled plastic, and refillable rigid containers made from ocean plastics, are the packaging centrepieces at the heart of a new project that aims to remove single-use plastic from 14,000 Australian households in twelve months. Founder of Zero Co Mike Smith speaks to PKN about the hurdles he’s jumped to get this off the ground.

It was a full house at Melbourne’s Arts Centre for the annual Food & Drink Business + PKN LIVE breakfast forum, where guests, speakers and an industry panel shared methods, insights and discussions on what it means to be a brave brand.

Brownes Dairy Company will become the first dairy in Australia to move to a fully renewable and recyclable milk carton. It is switching 25 products – more than 17.8 million milk cartons per year – to the new fully renewable packaging format.

Orora has entered into a binding agreement to sell its Australasian Fibre business to a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Paper, for an enterprise value of A$1.72bn.

Alf and Nadia Taylor, founders of food processing and packaging solutions provider tna, have been honoured as Members of the Order of Australia.

Norske Skog is closing its Albury newsprint mill business, with the assets including the mill itself to be sold to Visy, Australia’s largest paperboard manufacturer.

The Food & Drink Business + PKN LIVE: Brands Behaving Bravely breakfast forum is on tomorrow. Join us at the Melbourne Arts Centre from 7:30am to 11am.

Industry analyst Smithers forecasts steady growth in demand for industrial packaging across the next five years, with market value rising from $56.2bn this year at a compound annual growth rate of 3.3 per cent to reach $66bn in 2024.

The September/October issue of PKN is out now, featuring a look at recent major industry events and including our exclusive Machinery Matters supplement.