CANADIAN company CCL Industries has completed its takeover of Innovia Group of Wigton in a deal worth 1.14bn Canadian dollars (£695m).

This deal was announced in December and its completion has just been announced to the Toronto Stock Exchange.

CCL - the world's largest specialty label business - have taken the firm over from Innovia's former private equity owner Smithfield Group.

Geoffrey T. Martin, CCL's president, said: "We are extremely pleased to welcome the employees of the Innovia Group into the CCL family."

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.

Innovia's cellophane films business was sold to Futamura last year when 270 staff at Wigton transferred to the Japanese company.

CCL employs more than 20,000 people operates 156 production facilities in 35 countries.

In an interview with The Cumberland News following the announcement of the deal, Mr Martin said he had "zero intentions" of cutting jobs in Cumbria.