OREANDA-NEWS. May 11, 2011. Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (hereafter Toppan Printing; head office: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President & Representative Director: Shingo Kaneko) and Kureha Corporation (hereafter Kureha; head office: Chuo Ward, Tokyo; President & Chief Executive Officer: Takao Iwasaki) have agreed to Kureha’s Besela high-barrier film business being transferred to Toppan Printing with a target date of May this year.

Toppan Printing is proactively engaged in barrier film business that includes GL Film, a clear high-barrier film that holds the top share of the global market. By acquiring the Besela business, Toppan Printing will enhance its product lineup and further strengthen its barrier film business. The company will also develop new barrier films by combining the technologies of GL Film and Besela. Based on this agreement, Kureha will transfer business rights, patents, trademarks, know-how and other intellectual property rights related to the Besela business to Toppan Printing.

Background

The size of the market for packaging and components such as barrier films and aluminum foil that protect against oxygen and moisture is around 3 trillion yen and packaging and components using clear high-barrier films account for around 400 billion yen of that (Toppan Printing research). With factors such as an increase in the prevalence of microwave-heated retort foods such as rice and soups in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia, and tight conditions for demand for aluminum foil due to an increase in industrial applications, in recent years there has been a significant increase in demand for packaging and components that use clear high-barrier films. There are also increasing applications in industrial materials such as solar cell backsheets and packaging for pharmaceutical and medical goods including healthcare foods and transfusions. It is anticipated that the market for packaging materials and components using clear high-barrier film will grow due to an increase in global demand, with the market reaching a scale of around 600 billion yen in fiscal 2015.

Effect of the business transfer

clear high-barrier GL Film developed by Toppan Printing is a product that is based on a multiple layer structure combining dry coating such as vacuum vapor deposition and wet coating, and has the world’s highest level barrier performance (*1). With a wide range of grades available, Toppan Printing provides optimal products for varying barrier needs ranging from use in industrial materials to applications for food packaging.
 Kureha’s Besela is a high-barrier film for laminate use and its performance has been enhanced by Kureha’s development over many years of materials and manufacturing methods for wet coating (*2). The product brings together Kureha’s know-how and knowledge related to wet-coating, and in addition to barrier capabilities, heat resistance, transparency and resource saving, has the unique feature of high flexibility.

 Due to the business transfer contract, Toppan Printing will enhance its product lineup and further strengthen its barrier film business. The company will also target the creation of new products by combining GL Film and Besela.

Future developments
 Toppan Printing will develop products with superior barrier properties and long-term reliability for the expanding clear barrier film market by combining the technologies of GL Film and Besela. The company will strengthen sales in both the Japanese market and global markets such as North America, Europe and Southeast Asia, and target sales of 50 billion yen for its clear high-barrier film business in 2015.

Reference materials
 *1 About GL Film clear high-barrier films
 GL Film is the collective name for clear high-barrier films developed by Toppan Printing. These films are highly regarded in the Japanese market and overseas markets focused on Asia due to the wide range of variations available and the world’s highest level barrier performance, achieved using original vapor deposition processing technology. As a top brand in the clear high-barrier film market, GL Films are used by 500 companies for over 5,000 products in 30 countries and regions (as of March 2011).

 *2 About Besela high-barrier film Besela is a high-barrier film for laminate use that was developed based on a entirely new and revolutionary concept that came from research into high-barrier materials conducted over many years by Kureha. The product is manufactured by coating acrylate plastic onto the base material of polyester film. It is used for items such as retort food products, agricultural produce, seasonings, and sauces.