PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2010

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 16 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 11/10 www.petpla.net from 22 springs. This value model has become the best selling volume brand in France. In 2008 Pierre Castel sold shares to co-founder Papillaud. Alma, with a sales turn-over of €900 million, was too large for Papillaud alone to buy. Therefore a financial deal was arranged for Papillaud to become the majority share holder with 51%, while the remaining 49% was taken by a Japanese- American partnership called Otsuka Beverages Co. Previ- ously, Roxane had already worked together with Otsuka to create the Crystal Geyser in the United States. The situation today is that the Alma Group (Roxane) holds the number one market position bottling and mar- keting mineral water in France, from a dedicated range of mineral water springs, with brand names such as St. Yorre, Vichy Celestins, Thonon, Pierval, Chateldon, Courma- yeur and Cristaline, Verniere, Rozana. The Alma Group (Roxane) has 34 production sites, 68 production lines, 3,000 employees, and fills 4 billion bottles (in 2008). For Otsuka Pharmaceutical Europe, with a 49% share in Alma, the acquisition was a milestone, since it provided a plat- form for further expansion into Europe in addition to having a strong foothold in the European mineral water business. A visit of the Roxane plant in Ferriere de Brochard For Roxane it all started in Ferriere de Brochard: the mineral springs, the first filling, the expanding factory. Today there are tower blocks in the once idyllic valley - for PET and for sweeteners. Products such as Cola (own Roxane brand), fruit drinks, carbonated water and tea are all filled here. At La Ferriere de Brochard, there are a total of 4 lines, blowing, filling, capping, labelling and pack- ing. Sidel, Serac and Krones have supplied the core of machines. Preforms are produced in-house, at a central point, on 3 Husky systems (72 cavities, 300t capacity). The man Papillaud The entire concept and strategy of Alma-Roxane became clear to us after a few, inevitably provocative, verbal exchanges: The concept and strategy of the company with all subsidiaries for water and CSD bottling is Pierre Papil- laud and vice versa - Pierre Papillaud the man, character and personality is Alma-Roxane. He drives the company. He makes the decisions. He works from morning to night “with small breaks”, he explains. He orders the equipment. He can set the machines for optimised production. He is in charge of his advertising and his public image. He is on top – seemingly facing and challenging everybody in his way or in the way of PET and his business. He likes his good people. For those people he is the father, he takes care of them. “You don’t exist, just the company exists. The com- pany that makes you,” he says. Despite the fact that the man with the wide suspend- ers, sitting behind the desk, initially did not want to tell us anything – ““I have no secrets. I have nothing to tell and I Daily industry news and opinion FoodBev.com Images: screen© Irochka,bottle© FilipeVarela, tomato©Mailthepic,carton©Photoeuphoria,cheese© EdytaPawlowska,glass ©KonstantinTavrov, orange© LesCunliffe,bean©Monika3stepsahead,biscuit© Picsfive, strawberry©BraendanYong |Dreamstime.com Making a splash online now FoodBev com A world of food and drink