Japan's Toyo Seikan to buy US-based can machinery maker Stolle for $775 mln

Japan's biggest can and plastic bottle maker, Toyo Seikan, today said that it will spend $775 million (Y59.7 billion) to buy US-based can machinery maker Stolle Machinery.

Taking advantage of the strong yen, Tokyo-based Toyo Seikan is proposing to buy Colorado-based Stolle Machinery from investment fund GSO Capital Partners.

Founded in 1961 and a former subsidiary of aluminum giant Alcoa, Stolle is the world's leading supplier of two piece can and end-making machinery for the global can making industry.  It designs and installs complete can and end lines for beverage and food cans and also supplies individual made-to-order machines.

The company reported sales of $246 million last year.

Toyo Seikan said that it will pay for the acquisition from cash in hand and bank loans.

Founded in 1917, Toyo Seikan manufactures and sells packaging containers in Japan and other Asian countries. The company manufactures containers using metal, plastic, glass, and paper as the raw materials; and is also a contract manufacture of aerosol products and general filling products.

Toyo Seikan said that the acquisition will help it expand overseas and make it into a can and machinery production company.

Riding on strength of the strong yen, Japanese companies have expanded overseas by making deals worth $48.5 billion so far this year, up from $38.4 billion last year and on target to match the 2008 record of $67.6 billion outbound acquisitions, according to Thomson Reuters data.