Impress and Royal Can sign Joint Venture Agreement

On 15 June 2009, Impress Group B.V. and Royal Can Industries Co. Ltd.  announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to create a joint venture to sell and manufacture aluminium food and seafood cans in Thailand.

The new company will be called 'Royal Impress' and will be headquartered in Royal Can's existing premises in the Bangkok area.

Royal Can is one of Thailand's leading canmakers, with a complete range of steel and aluminium cans produced on highly efficient modern equipment. 

Impress currently exports aluminum cans from its European factories into Thailand. Many of them are filled in Thailand to be re-exported to the world's main consuming markets in Japan, North America, and Europe.

'The new company will have a winning combination of market knowledge, technical skills and research and development resources', says Thavee Thanawatcharangkoor, Managing Director of Royal Can. 'The association with Impress will enable us to bring  the highest level of technical assistance to our customers to support  their export activities, and to  introduce the latest innovations and developments in aluminium seafood cans'

'With this venture in Thailand, our recent acquisition of Megasa in Spain, our new factory in Morocco, and our joint venture with Inesa in Peru, Impress is now present in seafood cans on all five continents and in each of the major seafood processing countries in the world', says Francis Labbé, Chief Executive Officer of Impress Group. 'Thailand is the world's largest exporter of canned tuna and Thai seafood products are on the shelves everywhere in the world. As global leader of this growing market, Impress had to be physically present in Thailand.  We are proud to be associated in this venture with Royal Can, Thailand's leading independent canmaker'

Impress is a global market leader in the consumer metal packaging industry. It is the worldwide leader in the seafood can market, European and Australasian leader for aerosol cans, European leader in cans for Paints and Coatings and European leader in cans for Infant Formula and Nutritional Powders. Impress is also the second largest supplier of heat processed food cans in Europe and Australasia. Impress is based in Deventer, the Netherlands and had worldwide sales of approximately €1.7 billion in 2008. It employs approximately 8,000 people in 55 facilities in 21 countries in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Seychelles and Morocco.

For further Information please contact

Blanche Frankel: Press'Publica: Tel: +33 (1) 56 89 56 64; Fax:+33 56 89 56 50;   e-mail:  b.frankel@press-publica.fr
Mary Chapman Communications: Mary Chapman: Tel: +44 (0) 1452 720208 Fax: +44 (0) 1452723724 e-mail: marychpm@aol.com

Discover Impress on: www.impressgroup.com