Irish-owned Zeus Packaging has announced a €15m investment in Dublin-based tissue manufacturer Aldar Tissue.
Zeus acquired Aldar Tissue in 2019 as part of a three year €40m acquisition strategy which concluded in February of this year.
Zeus will invest €10m in the construction of a new 100,000 sq ft Aldar production facility in Rathcoole, with start-up planned for early 2022.
A further €5m will be invested in two new fully-automated, state-of-the-art production lines.
The new facility will enable the Aldar plant to quadruple capacity and introduce premium brands to large retailers across Ireland, along with exporting to customers in the UK & Europe.
Zeus Chief Executive Keith Ockenden said: “Aldar is one of only two toilet tissue manufacturers on the island of Ireland, which combined represent just 20% of the market.
“The rest of the Irish toilet tissue market is completely reliant on import. Not only is this a negative from a sustainability perspective, it also highlights the additional challenges brought on by Brexit and the knock-on impact of high distribution costs on the consumer.
“At Zeus, we wish to remove this reliance in the Irish market on UK and European imports by strengthening indigenous manufacturers such as Aldar.”
He added that Aldar is on track to becoming the largest toilet tissue producer in Ireland, increasing the company’s Irish capacity to 40% of market needs.
Darren Farrell, Project Manager of Aldar Tissues, added that over the past three years the business has invested €4m in converting machines. In February 2021, Zeus acquired Austrian-based food packaging business Petruzalek, expanding and strengthening its geographic presence across 12 countries in Western, Central and Eastern Europe.
