IN Groupe Acquires Portals Technology Business in Italy

IN Groupe, global specialist in identities and digital services, has announced that it has signed an agreement with UK-based Portals, supplier of security features and paper, for the sale of Portals’ security components business in Bollate, Italy.

The sale of the Italian part of the business is the latest chapter in Portal’s story. Having taken the business out from parent De La Rue in 2018, the business experienced strong head winds and saw a significant adverse impact on its banknote paper business. It became clear that the change in the fortunes and priorities of De La Rue, still its largest customer, and the rising input costs, specifically of energy, set against the increasingly price competitive banknote paper marketplace, meant that its banknote paper business at Overton was no longer viable.

After plans for an orderly wind down of Overton were triggered in July 2022, Portals announced the sale of assets from Overton in the same year. The assets, which included pulping, papermaking, surface applications and finishing, had received significant investment, with over £50 million spent over the previous 10 years and £25 million since 2018 alone.

In November 2021, Portals completed the acquisition of Fedrigoni’s security business. Fedrigoni being one of the leading European producers of specialty papers and high value-added products for packaging, graphics and self-adhesive labels.

The security business, formerly known as Fabriano, specialises in the production of security features for the global banknote, passport and high security documents markets – in particular security threads, holographic stripes and patches.

IN Groupe (formerly known as Imprimerie Nationale) is owned by the French government and specialises in identity and secured digital services, serving more than 130 countries in the world. In addition to its solutions dedicated to legal and professional identity security, IN Groupe develops and sells leading-edge security components for identities and banknotes through its dedicated brands Surys (optical components), which it acquired in 2019 and was formerly known as Hologram.Industries, and SPS (electronic components).

The acquisition is part of the implementation of the Digital Odyssey 2025 Plan and the complementary nature of the Surys site in Bussy-Saint-Georges (France) with the new site in Bollate will strengthen IN Groupe’s products portfolio to meet the needs of the eurozone and export markets. The transaction is expected to complete during the first half of 2023, subject to customary approvals.

Following the sale of this business, and the closure of the banknote paper mill, Portals will now concentrate on the production of cylinder mould made security papers at its mill in Bathford (UK) for passports, certificates and other high security documents.