Amcor receives EC nod fro Alcan packaging acquisition

Amcor today said that its proposal for purchase of European assets of Rio Tinto's Alcan Packaging business has been shown the green light by the European Commission on the pre-condition that it sells two flexible packaging plants in Tobepal, Spain, which have combined sales of around £110 million.
 
The divestment was necessitated to address the European Commission's concern relating to pharmaceutical sachet and aluminium cold-form foil products.

According to chief executive Ken MacKenzie, the two plants to be divested represent less than 5 per cent of the combined sales in Europe and would not significantly impact the synergies or operational improvements anticipated.

With the EU executive arm granting permission to the transaction, Amcor has moved closer to finalising its $2.44 billion purchase of Alcan Packaging's European food, global pharmaceutical and tobacco units.

The acquisition will see Amcor emerge as one of the world's leading packaging companies with a strong presence across several segments including flexible packaging, folding cartons for tobacco and custom PET plastic containers.

The company said in August that it expected to extract up to $250 million in synergies from the Alcan businesses within its first three years of ownership, achieving 45 per cent in its first full year.

Amcor is the world's largest maker of plastic soft drink bottles. It had previously offered to sell one of its European plants having annual sales of less than $100m to address competition concerns in the drug sachet and aluminium cold-form foil products markets.