Owens-Illinois to buys glass packaging facility in Mexico from Grupo Modelo for $188m

  • Published | 05 April 2019

Owens-Illinois plans to buy a glass packaging site in Mexico will help in their business expansion in glass packaging industry which will propel the global glass packaging industry in future timeline.

Global: Glass bottle manufacturer Owens-Illinois (O-I) has entered a definitive agreement to buy Nueva Fàbrica Nacional de Vidrio from Grupo Modelo for a total consideration of approximately $188m. Nueva Fàbrica, through its Nueva Fanal facility near Mexico City, produces and supplies around 300,000t of glass containers a year using four furnaces at the plant. These containers are used for Grupo Modelo brands such as Corona, Modelo Especial, and Pacifico. Through this acquisition, O-I’s strategy to invest in the growth of sustainable glass packaging by partnering with customers to help enable their growth in premium brands such as Corona, one of the most popular and fastest growing beer brands globally. Moreover, the acquisition helps expands the Owens-Illinois’ presence in Mexican market. According to BlueWeave Consulting, The escalating consumption of alcoholic drinks such as beer could be projected to fuel the demand of the glass packaging industry in near future. Glass bottles provide excellent uses for the food and beverage industry by maintaining the quality of their contents and protecting the product from external factors. Glass is the trusted and proven packaging for health, taste and the environment. It is also the only widely-used food packaging granted the FDA status which is generally recognized as safe. Glass is often an excellent replacement for plastics in packaging industry. Furthermore, Glass rendering major benefits for various packaging industry such as maintaining flavor Brilliance and Freshness, provide Product Safety and made from 100% natural sustainable raw materials, which are infinitely recyclable that help in reduce additional waste. Additionally, glass is completely impermeable and doesn’t impact the product in any way besides its appearance and it also gives a high quality appearance to the product. The government initiative to curtail the use of the plastic for various environmental concerns will influence the global glass packaging industry in upcoming periods. According to BlueWeave Consulting‘s report, Titled-“Global Glass Packaging Market by Application (Beverages Packaging, Food Packaging, Pharmaceutical, and Personal Care), by Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America); Size and Forecast, 2015-2025” Glass-packaging industry presents promising growth prospects and expected to have upward trend over the forecast period 2019-2025 owing to its high quality like reusability, heat resistivity, sterility, and zero affinity toward chemicals.  The increased consumption of beverages, especially alcoholic beverages, and carbonated soft drinks (CSD) is considered one of the key factors behind the demand for glass packaging. Growth in the pharmaceutical industry and several environmental benefits associated with glass packaging are expected to be a few of the other drivers of the market during the forecast period.