Cardia Bioplastics and Stellar Films Group announced that they had taken the first steps towards a merger, in November last year. They have completed due diligence and the transaction document for the merger of Cardia Bioplastics and Stellar Films Group has been executed.
Like-minded Australian companies and both headquartered in Melbourne, Cardia Bioplastics and Stellar Films Group originally partnered to produce environmentally friendly, high quality and cost competitive Biohybrid films for the global personal care and hygiene products industry. Together, they were able to achieve a high performance product differentiated through its soft touch and warm feel, so ideal for disposable hygiene products.
They realised that they work well together, they are an excellent strategic fit and that there are major benefits to a merger, including scale and geographic footprint of combined operations, market access and reach, production and operational savings, complementary intellectual property positions, resources to deliver business strategy and high quality management teams.
Stellar’s headquarters are in Melbourne and it operates manufacturing facilities in Melbourne and Port Klang, Malaysia. Over the last fifteen years, it has developed partnerships with customers in more than twenty-seven countries throughout North America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand. It also holds an interest of 50.8% in Akronn Industries, which manufactures silicone-coated paper and film products at its Nilai, Malaysia operation supplying the global hygiene and medical packaging markets as well as the sustainable energy sector.
Cardia holds a strong patent portfolio and its growth is fuelled by the global trend towards sustainable packaging. Its global application development centre is in Melbourne and its product development centre and resins manufacturing plant is in Nanjing, China. It has manufacturing plants for film and bag products are in Nanjing, China and São Paulo, Brazil with further offices in Australia, USA and Malaysia, and a network of leading distributors across the Americas, Asia and Europe.
The merger will create a leader in sustainable packaging with sales revenues in excess of $27 million per annum and much expanded production capacity for Biohybrid and compostable film products. The merged business will offer a broad range of sustainable product solutions and is expected to benefit from the growth and trend towards more sustainability, particularly in the personal care and hygiene products market which is currently worth over $72 billion and growing at 5.5% per annum.
