Oystar merges three US subsidiaries
Sells Brazilian subsidiary to Masipack
German process and packaging group Oystar has merged its three US subsidiaries to form Oystar North America, a move that will create one of the largest suppliers of packaging machines in North America, the company said.
The US firm has combined Oystar Jones (Covington, Kentucky), Oystar US (Edison, New Jersey) and Oystar Packaging Technologies (Davenport, Iowa).
The existing manufacturing plants will continue to operate, but will now be managed by a joint management team led by Barry Shoulders, president of Oystar packaging technologies.
Oystar said the merger will create a US$250m company with 650 employees and was a further result of a restructuring of the Oystar Group begun 18 months ago.
Chief executive Tom Graf said the restructuring had a goal of centrally managing individual product and customer groups and reducing the number of subsidiaries.
As part of this aim, Oystar has sold its Brazilian subsidiary, Oystar Fabrima, to Brazilian packaging machine manufacturer Masipack, based in São Bernardo do Campo. The firm has bought the assets and 170 people employed by Oystar.
‘The company is experienced and committed to the industry and has a particularly good track record with bagging machines,’ said Graf.
Oystar will now concentrate its bagging machine manufacturing in North America and India.
‘The Oystar group remains committed to the pharmaceutical industry and the Brazilian market,’ Graf added. ‘But our emphasis will be on markets with strong growth potential for our primary and secondary packaging solutions.’
Oystar Holding employs approximately 2,100 people worldwide and generated total sales of €420m in sales in 2010.