Melbourne

German-based Kocher & Beck’s printing and diecutting equipment will now be available in Australia and New Zealand through Jet Technologies. Jet Technologies said the partnership would provide an “exciting alternative” to the region’s narrow web market. The company said there was a need for more options for the market especially with the pending sale of Melbourne-based Gerhardt to Rotometrics, and closure of all Gerhardt manufacturing sites worldwide. Jet Technologies will display a range of its printing and packaging equipment at this week’s AUSPACK PLUS, held in Melbourne, Victoria. The company will showcase equipment such as aluminium tray products, reel

TORONTO—CCL Industries Inc. announced that it has acquired Purbrick Ltd, a privately held company based in Melbourne, Australia.

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—Mark Andy Inc. reports a recent surge of machine orders in Australia. With support from its distributor Aldus Engineering Pty. Ltd., the company has taken orders for Comco and Mark Andy printing presses and Rotoflex finishing solutions.

The Global Packaging Alliance (GPA) held its annual meeting in the United States and Mexico during the week of January 19, 2009. With members convening from all over the world, the yearly event was a much-anticipated chance to discuss strategies and goals for the upcoming year.

The global RFID market continues its rapid growth as record orders up to $0.5 billion each are serviced. This year demand for RFID is on target for $5.3 billion globally as it powers its way to $27 billion in 2018. Recent substantial additions to the global RFID orderbook include A$350 million from the State of Melbourne to boost its public transport RFID card scheme and a forecast by transport analysts that the national RFID card for transport being progressed in the UK will cost $2 billion. Indeed, much is now happening in Europe, although it is the U.S. and China that share top slot

MONTREAL, MELBOURNE, LONDON and NEW YORK—Rio Tinto and Alcan announced they have reached an agreement for Rio Tinto to make an offer to acquire all of Alcan’s outstanding common shares for $101 per share in a recommended, all-cash transaction. The offer represents a total equity consideration for Alcan of approximately $38.1 billion. The combined aluminium product group will be named Rio Tinto Alcan. In light of this announcement, Alcoa Inc. has withdrawn its offer to purchase Alcan. In May, Alcoa made an offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Alcan for $58.60 in cash and 0.4108 of a share of Alcoa