Innovia Group of Wigton is to be sold to a Canadian company in a deal worth 1.13bn Canadian dollars (£680 million).

The buyer is CCL Industries, the world's largest specialty label business. It has agreed the sale with Innovia's private equity owner Smithfield Group.

Innovia employs 1,200 people worldwide including more than 600 at Wigton, where it manufactures polypropylene film for use in labelling and packaging, and the Guardian polymer bank note material recently adopted by the Bank of England.

Its HQ and research and development (R&D) facilities are based at Wigton.

The deal with CCL, which should be completed in the first quarter of 2017 subject to regulatory approval, follows the sale of Innovia's celllophane films business to Futamura earlier this year when 270 staff at Wigton transferred to the Japanese company.

CCL, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, employs more than 20,000 people and operates 156 production facilities in 35 countries.


Innovia's Mark Robertshaw There is no information on how the takeover might affect jobs or investment at Wigton but the statement announcing the deal describes CCL as having a “ complementary” presence in the markets in which Innovia operates, and adds that I nnovia’s R&D and high technology capabilities “provide a platform for CCL to grow and further enhance its offer”.

Mark Robertshaw, c hief e xecutive of Innovia Group, welcomed the deal.

He said: “CCL will be an excellent long term owner for the employees and customers of Innovia.

“ CCL recognises and values Innovia’s world leading technology, R&D and differentiation in F ilms and Security, and sees a high degree of complementarity with CCL’s own capabilities and markets to establish new growth opportunities for their business.”