O-I & Constellation Brands form partnership
By Canadian Packaging staff
General Bottling bottling Constellation Brands Glass container industry Owens-IllinoisTeam-up to feature joint venture to operate glass container plant and long-term supply agreement.
Perrysburg, OH—Owens-Illinois, Inc. has announced it has formed a 50-50 joint venture with Constellation Brands to own and operate a glass container production plant in Nava, Mexico.
The joint venture will operate the glass container production plant in Nava that it recently purchased from Anheuser-Busch InBev, a state-of-the-art facility that employs ~250 people and first started operation in February of 2014.
The plant operates under the name IVC and produces bottles exclusively for Constellation’s adjacent brewery, which makes an expanding portfolio of Mexican beer brands for export to the U.S., including Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Negra Modelo and Pacifico.
To accommodate Constellation’s current and growing need for glass bottles, the joint venture will expand the capacity of the plant from one to four furnaces over the next three to four years, with a team of engineering and manufacturing experts already working on the expansion.
In a related matter, O-I signed a long-term supply agreement with Constellation to supply additional bottles to the brewery. Supply under the agreement begins in late 2015, ramping up significantly in the following year.
“This is an exciting and promising venture for us,” says O-I chairman and chief operating officer Al Stroucken. “We are pleased to support Constellation’s growth in a way that allows both partners to optimize their expertise and capabilities. Through the joint venture and the long term supply agreement, we can participate in the outstanding growth these brands are experiencing in the U.S.”
O-I is the world’s largest glass container manufacturer and preferred partner for many of the world’s leading food and beverage brands and had revenues of $7.0 billion in 2013, employing approximately 22,500 people at 77 plants in 21 countries. With global headquarters in Perrysburg, OH, the company helps delivers safe, sustainable, pure, iconic, brand-building glass packaging to a growing global marketplace. For more information, visit www.o-i.com.
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