CCL Industries Inc., parent company of CCL Label, has signed an agreement with Pacman Group, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which will enable the company to service its customers in new territories.

The agreement grants Pacman Group exclusive rights to manufacture CCL Label products in the Middle East and Africa outside of South Africa under a licensing arrangement. Pacman Group has more than 200 employees in plants in Dubai, Oman and Egypt, and with sales of approximately $25 million, is the largest label converter located in the Arab-speaking world. The company will change its corporate identity to Pacman-CCL as part of the licensing arrangement and will remain a 100 percent subsidiary of privately held Albwardy Investment, also based in Dubai.

The two companies have also announced their intention to create a jointly owned company to manufacture and sell labels in India, and is constructing a new plant that is expected to begin production in 2010.

Geoffrey Martin, president and CEO of CCL Industries, says, “Pacman Group is the most respected name in the label industry in this part of the world, and we are delighted to bring CCL’s global customers, procurement efficiencies and technical know-how to this new geographic territory. Many of the Pacman Group managers and employees emanate originally from the Indian subcontinent, so we believe our move there can be accelerated by an equity joint venture arrangement with Albwardy Investment and the participation of the Pacman Group team.”

John Dawson, managing director of the Pacman Group, adds, “We are delighted to have the support of the world’s largest company in this field to help build our business in these important and rapidly growing emerging markets. I am sure together we can deliver innovation and value for our many common customers in the region.”

With headquarters in Toronto, Canada, CCL Industries employs approximately 5,400 people and operates 56 production facilities in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. CCL Label is the world”s largest converter of pressure sensitive and film materials, and sells to customers in the consumer packaging, healthcare, and consumer durable segments. CCL Container and CCL Tube produce aluminum cans, bottles and plastic tubes for the consumer products industry in North America.