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Alpla has expanded its presence in North Africa as it has acquired a majority stake in Moroccan company Atlantic Packaging. Alpla has announced that it has founded a new JV company, Alpla Morocco, with Atlantic Packaging’s previous sole owner Diana Holding. Through the acquisition and new JV, Alpla says it is contributing its expertise and experience to the production of PET preforms for the regional markets in Africa’s Maghreb region and for Western Africa. In addition to preforms, Alpla Morocco also produces plastic pallets by injection moulding and packaging films by extrusion at its plant in the Moroccan city of Tangier. The initiative aims to establish the groundwork for growth and sustainable packaging solutions in the Northwestern African Region. Christian Fessler, MD of Middle East and North Africa at Alpla, said: “Together with our strategic partner Diana Holding, we want to exploit the enormous potential of the regional markets, open up new segments and contribute our expertise as a global system provider for preforms, bottles and closures". Rita Zniber, CEO of Diana Holding, added: “Our joint vision is to be one of the leading suppliers of high-quality plastic packaging in Morocco and for Western Africa and to offer innovative solutions. We created Atlantic Packaging with the vision of expanding its capacity through a strategic partnership.” The Tangier plant – which is around 12,000 square metres – is to be expanded in stages over the coming years with more than 20,000 square metres of space available for future expansion. In the first stage, Alpla Morocco has tripled its production capacity from the current 100 million preforms to around 300 million units per year and is investing in two new PET preform production lines. Javier Delgado, Alpla's regional managing director for Africa, Middle East and Turkey, commented: “Through the location in Morocco, we can supply our global customers in northern Africa with the usual quality and flexibility, gain new business partners and expand our portfolio to include new areas. At the same time, we are creating new jobs by expanding our production volume.” He continued: "By manufacturing bottles, preforms and closures, as we already do in South Africa and Angola, we provide customers with successful products and sustainable solutions from a single source, giving them a market advantage". Financial terms of the acquisition and JV were not disclosed.