Uflex to invest $180 mn for new US facility

Packaging major Uflex Ltd today said it would invest about $180 million to set up a plant in Kentucky, US, as part of its strategy to increase proximity to major markets worldwide.

The company will be investing about $180 million in phases in the project. This will be Uflex's first manufacturing facility in the US, it said in a statement.

It said the new facility is part of the company's strategy to gain competitive advantage of increased proximity to the markets globally.

The company will make (polyster) PET films in the Kentucky plant.

"The global demand for flexible packaging films is rapidly increasing and we need to make investments to meet future demands," Uflex Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Chaturvedi said.

Commenting on the issue, Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear said that projects like this are helpful in providing jobs in the state as well as bringing investments to the tune of millions of dollars.

Uflex, a Bombay Stock Exchange-listed company, is undertaking various green and brown field expansion projects adding manufacturing lines for new product categories across facilities in countries Egypt, Mexico and India.

With plans of new manufacturing lines and corresponding investments, the company is aiming to achieve $1 billion by 2012 financial year, it added.

The company's clients include Unilever, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Colgate, Palmolive, Nestle, Gillette, Ranbaxy, ITC, Tata Tea, Britannia, Dabur and Haldiram, among others.