• Cincinnati-based labelmaker Multi-Color Corp. agrees Nov. 19 to purchase the North and South American Decorating Technologies Div. of Avery Dennison Corp. A pioneer of heat-transfer label technology, Dec Tech is a $20-million supplier of heat-transfer labels to the HBA, food and beverage industries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Pactiv/Rollprint expands medical-pack alliance: Pactiv Corp.'s Kobusch Sengewald business unit (Halle, Westfalen, Germany) and Rollprint Packaging Products (Addison, IL) add a Southeast Asian partner to their global medical-packaging alliance. Acme Packaging Co. Ltd., Singapore, joins forces as the third supply partner for flexible medical-packaging structures. Products include printed rollstock, formable bottom webs, inner wraps, Tyvek® lidstock, premade pouches, folding cartons, paper trays and die-cut blanks.
• Klöckner Pentaplast acquires Portugal's Neoplástica Holding Nov. 3 for an undisclosed sum. Neoplástica is a manufacturer of extruded polyester and polystyrene barrier films with sales of about $78 million. Neoplástica's films, which are used in controlled-atmosphere packaging (CAP) and modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP) for perishable food products such as meat, seafood, fresh pasta, cheese, and bread, augment Gordonsville, Va-based Klöckner's product line.
• Protect-all installs Körber PaperLink SHM 1450 sheeter: The Darien, WI-based converter looks to to improve quality and support expansion of its new line of synthetic papers. Protect-all supplies thermal-laminating films and other substrates for printing, sign, banner and tag/label markets. Manufactured by Pemco (Sheboygan, WI), the SHM 1450 sheeter joins 14 slitters, two extrusion coaters, an adhesive laminator and an older manual sheeter.
• Caltius Capital buys Northwest Coatings Corp.: The Oak Creek, WI-based supplier of specialty energy-curable and water-based coatings and adhesives is purchased by Caltius from a local ownership group via a $12.5 million investment from American Capital Strategies, Bethesda, MD. Northwest Coatings management is also investing in the equity.

The 2003 trade show schedule gets a bit more interesting for converters next year with moves by organizers Tarsus Group PLC and Michael Boyle.

Labelexpo Europe 2003 will now take place concurrently with Tarsus' just-acquired BPC Europe show, at the Parcs des Exposition in Brussels, Belgium, on Sept. 24-27. With nearly 600 exhibiting companies, covering a combined display space of almost 325,000 sq ft, and a projected attendance of around 20,000 visitors, the co-located shows will bring label converting and label-application innovations together with product bottle- and can-filling and decoration, as well as logistics-labeling solutions to the industry and packaging end user.

"The initial response from exhibitors and visitors to the two co-located shows has been extremely positive," says Roger Pellow, Tarsus Labels Group manager.

After its postponement this fall, the next ICE (International Converting Exhibition) will take place at the MOC Exhibition Ctr. in Munich, Germany, November 18-20, 2003. ICE is Europe's only stand-alone converting event on the European continent next year, says Michael Boyle, who last May acquired rights to all future ICE events.

A comprehensive range of machinery, materials and services specified by paper, film and foil converters will be on display at ICE. Specific technology focuses are coating, laminating, metallizing, slitting, winding and finishing. A technical conference will run concurrently with the exhibition. Package printing has been excluded, as this area is covered extensively at several other trade shows, Boyle says.