Jindal Poly Films rumoured to buy European assets of DuPont Teijin Films

01-Jun-2017 - Last updated on 02-Jun-2017 at 10:12 GMT

DTF has worked with Virginia Tech on food packaging in the past. Picture: DTJ.

India's largest polyester-based packaging film company Jindal Poly Films Ltd (JPFL) is allegedly in talks to buy the European production assets of DuPont Teijin Films (DTF) for an estimated $300m.

If completed, the acquisition will propel the company to the world's largest in a category dominated by Chinese conglomerate Kangde Xin Composite Material, multinationals like ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell, and Reliance Industries, claims The Economic Times India.

BOPET & BOPP films

"The sale of these European operations is just another step in the long and painful process of DuPont's withdrawal from a market they once dominated," said Simon King, chief films analyst, PCI Wood Mackenzie.

“DuPont was once the largest world producer and undisputed leader in terms of R&D in the global BOPET film industry, but the company's profits have suffered in recent years from intense competition from new, low-cost, producers based in India and China.

“The company has also been rationalizing their business by focusing on speciality films and, in a separate move, selling back to Teijin its share of Japanese and Indonesian plants previously jointly owned."

New Delhi-based JPFL is India’s largest producer of BOPET (Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) and BOPP (Biaxially oriented polypropylene) films typically used in the packaging industry.

BOPP is used by global food, pharma, and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) companies due to its high moisture-retaining capacity while BOPET is used in flexible packaging for x-rays, electronic displays, credit and debit cards and photography.

Global footprint

DTF was established in 2000 as a 50:50 global alliance combining the polyester film interests of DuPont and Japan's Teijin.

The business includes existing joint ventures with DuPont-Hongji Films Foshan Co in China. The joint venture has businesses in Europe, Indonesia and Japan. The European arm has a global footprint, including plants in China, Europe and the US.

The European manufacturing sites are in Dumfries in Scotland and Luxembourg, with a global innovation centre in Teesside in the UK.

In the past three years, Jindal Poly Films has focused on reorganizing operations. It merged the manufacturing business of Jindal Photo, increased capacities and ventured into new segments like non-woven to dominate global market share.

The company has already confirmed it wants to invest in two additional BOPP lines; one in the US and one in Europe and in additional metalizing and coating capacities.