A passion for style and performance

The Albea Group is a global leader in the development and manufacture of high performance packaging for the cosmetics and personal care industries. The company has seen dramatic growth during the last few years thanks to a combination of strategic acquisitions and cutting-edge design technology. Philip Yorke reports.

Albea produces the world’s largest range of beauty and personal care packaging and product solutions. With almost 16,000 employees, it serves both large and small customers in over 60 countries worldwide. This highly successful group also operates 38 state-of-the-art facilities in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The company’s dedicated teams provide a unique local presence and unrivalled global reach, offering robust capabilities in design and innovation, as well as project management.

A long history of design and manufacturing excellence has enabled Albea to work with many of the world’s top beauty brands including Dior, Lancôme and Givenchy. The company is a one-stop shop for all beauty and personal care products and is committed to going well beyond standard ‘packaging needs’ in order to provide added value wherever possible.

The beauty of performance

Earlier this year Albea entered into an exclusive strategic alliance with ‘Sun European Partners’ to sell Albea products worldwide. This move enhances its already strong global presence and adds to the power of the group, which was acquired by an affiliate of Sun European Partners in 2010. Albea is one of the world’s leading packaging companies, providing a wide range of solutions for the make-up, fragrance, skincare, personal and oral care markets. Its diverse product portfolio includes plastic and laminate tubes, mascaras, lipsticks, lip-glosses, compacts and closures. In addition, Albea produces shells, spray-caps, jars, lids, cosmetic accessories, bags and promotional items.

Following the company’s acquisition by Sun European Partners there has been a step-change in its overall performance with significant capital expenditure leading to a rise in profitability of more than 80 per cent. This dramatic improvement in performance has been achieved through strong organic growth, as well as a continuous programme of investment in the latest cutting-edge technology and new operating initiatives.

The company’s remarkable growth has been supplemented by a number of strategic acquisitions that include Betts, Eyelamatic, Tex and Rexam’s PC business, and as a result has transformed the Albea Group into one of the world’s largest and most successful packaging companies. Francois Luscan, Albea’s CEO, said, “We are excited for this new chapter in Albea’s 60-year history. Sun has been an outstanding shareholder as we consolidate our position as the leading provider of

solutions to the world’s most prestigious and dynamic global brands, building on our unique combination of customer focus, operating excellence, broad range of products and unrivalled global reach.”

Bright future

Today the market trend is for bright tubes with metallic effects and intricate designs, as well as for beautiful, elegant tubes that stand out on the shelf, while at the same time preserving a customer’s more delicate formulations.

These new aesthetic finishes help beauty brands to expand their seasonal collections and limited editions by providing pioneering, personalised products in very short time frames. This in turn helps them stand out from the competition. “Laminated cosmetic tubes are an ideal solution for beauty brands and they offer countless advantages, with different structures for different barrier levels and looks. Intricate designs, realistic photo-prints, matte or shiny effects, multi-coloured and sophisticated metallic finishes – all add up to an infinite range of design options. In addition, we can offer various cap and applicator options including flip-top, screw top and nozzles.

“As well as flexibility and short time-to-market, our cutting edge ‘SmartPrint™’ digital printing technology allows batch sizes from 10,000 units and shortens product development lead times for our customers,” explained Dorothee de Courson, marketing director of Albea Tubes.

maximising metal-forming expertise

With the recent 100 per cent acquisition of Covit S.L., the Albea Group has increased its expertise in the anodising, assembly and decoration of metal parts for the packaging of cosmetic and per-

sonal care products. Covit’s extensive know-how in stamping, anodising and colour matching is further complimented by its expertise in the design of advanced dispensing systems.

This new acquisition will provide Albea with extended global metal capabilities, while building a strong, global supplier of precision metal parts. Metal is a critical asset in the fragrance and cosmetics market where packaging often combines metal and plastic parts to advantage.

Dawn of a new era

In March 2108 an exciting new era of innovation and growth was heralded by the acquisition of Albea by a leading pan-European equity firm: PIA Partners. Francois Luscan, Albea’s CEO, commented, “This is the start of a new era for Albea. With PAI we are opening another exciting and transformative chapter in our history. Together we are going forward and making Albea a more agile, reliable, creative and robust partner for our customers’ global brands.”

Laurent Rivoire, partner at PAI Partners, said, “We are looking forward to partnering with the Albea team and to continue strengthening the group’s market position, as well as supporting the implementation of an accelerated growth strategy.” n

For further details of Albea’s innovative and high precision packaging products for the cosmetic and personal care products industry, visit: www.albea.com