The newly merged Close The Loop Group has acquired Queensland-based seafood packaging operation Oceania Agencies, to boost its offering to the aquaculture market.
O F Packaging, now part of the Close The Loop Group, is already a major player in seafood packaging, here and in overseas markets, and says the Oceania acquisition will bring complementary solutions to the business.
O F Packaging and Close the Loop announced their merger in November and said it would list on the ASX by the end of the year.
Steve Morriss, founder of Close the Loop, said the integration of the two companies brought design, manufacture, and end of life management under the one roof.
The merger and listing makes the Close the Loop Group a key participant in the global circular economy, providing end-to-end solutions for brand owners, from the design and manufacturing of packaging and products, through to collection and recovery, processing, recycling, and production of secondary products that reduce waste to landfill.
Packaging industry veteran and managing director of O F Packaging Joe Foster will be the CEO of Close the Loop Group.
“Merging the two companies allows us to create a business suited for the circular economy and gets us closer to achieving the holy grail of recycling packaging back into packaging,” Foster said.
In regard to the acquisition of Oceania Agencies, Foster said Close the Loop Group would continue to run it as a stand-alone business under its own brand, and leverage capabilities of both companies into each other.
O F Packaging has a large customer base of seafood producers around the world, with a major manufacturing site in South Africa under its Foster International brand.
Foster said, “We have a lot of seafood customers, and expect the market to grow. Oceania has some different products to us. It is a market we know well.”
Based just outside Noosa in Queensland, Oceania Agencies will remain in its current location, with its current staff, apart from the owners, who are now retiring.
