Taghleef Industries seeks growth in Latin America with Biofilm deal

Dubai’s Taghleef Industries has bought Biofilm, a Latin America-based producer of bi-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films for packaging, labels and industrial applications.

Founded in 1988 and jointly owned by Valorem and Lisa Holdings, Biofilm has manufacturing plants in Cartagena, Colombia, and Altamira, Mexico.

The transaction, which was approved by the board of directors of all parties, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.

With this acquisition, Taghleef aims to become a leading supplier of BOPP films in Latin America as it increases its global production capacity per year to more than 500,000 tons.

Taghleef said the addition of the facilities in Colombia and Mexico to its plants in the US, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Australia means it is “geographically positioned to provide a consistent worldwide supply of specialty films”.

Taghleef Industries (TI) CEO Detlef Schuhmann said: “For years, we have respected the high-quality products and innovative technology developed by Biofilm.

“By joining their highly experienced and trained workforce with ours, we will achieve synergies in product, production and technical service that will benefit both TI’s existing customers and the new ones we welcome from Biofilm.

“We are looking forward to expanding our presence in Latin America and are especially excited to leverage Biofilm’s strong portfolio in metallised film and vacuum deposited barrier solutions.”

Vittoriano Di Luzio of Biofilm added: “TI is an ideal match for Biofilm because of the company’s history of growth through its unique model of successful integration. Biofilm is excited to partner with Taghleef and looks forward with confidence to being part of this strong and continuously growing organisation.”