Constantia Flexibles Group, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, has signed a deal to acquire Spear Group, a leading manufacturer of labels globally.

“We will be able to serve our customers even better together with Spear, a leading beverage labels business with a highly attractive, global, blue-chip customer base,” says Thomas Unger, CEO of Constantia Flexibles. “The Group’s outstanding technological capabilities present many opportunities for continued profitable growth. We look forward to partnering with Spear’s excellent management team to capture the benefits from combining our businesses.”

Spear has been an innovator in supplying pressure sensitive labels for the beverage industry since 1982. The company has sales of approximately $195 million with 650 employees located at four facilities in North America, one site in Europe (Wales/UK), one site in South Africa and a sales office in Singapore. Additionally, Spear has an increasingly growing business which provides re-sealable products primarily for the food and snack markets.

“We are excited by the increased opportunities that Spear will be able to offer our customers by joining forces with Constantia Flexibles. This combination will enhance our leadership position in the technological development of pressure sensitive labeling for primary brand decoration,” says Rick Spear, CEO of Spear.

According to Dan Muenzer, Spear’s VP of marketing, Spear will operate as Spear for the forseeable future, but will be a wholly-owned subsidiary. Its executive and management has all agreed to stay on and run the business.

The acquisition is part of the international growth strategy of Constantia Flexibles and constitutes a strong basis for further growth and expansion in the global labels market. The parties agreed not to disclose the price of the transaction. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.

Constantia Flexiblesis a leading flexible packaging group supplying international customers in the food, pet food, pharmaceutical and beverage industries. More than 6,500 employees in over 50 group companies in 20 countries offer innovative packaging solutions on a global basis.