Smurfit Kappa Westrock Expands Global Packaging Reach

The company has made significant investments in its operations, with a major expansion in North America. This move will enable the company to better serve its customers in the region.

Smurfit Kappa Westrock has a strong presence in the global packaging market, with a diverse portfolio of products and services. Its expertise spans corrugated packaging, paper-based packaging, and sustainable packaging solutions.

The company's commitment to innovation is evident in its focus on digital printing and e-commerce packaging solutions. This allows customers to create customized packaging for their specific needs.

Smurfit Kappa Westrock's global reach is a result of strategic acquisitions and partnerships, which have expanded its operations in key markets.

Smurfit Kappa's acquisition of WestRock was a long time coming, with discussions initiated as early as June 2019.

The companies publicly disclosed their advanced talks to merge on September 7, 2023.

Smurfit Kappa and WestRock had identified $750 million worth of businesses and assets to divest if necessary to achieve regulatory approval, but in the end, no divestitures were required.

The acquisition was expected to close by Q2 2024, but WestRock later announced a revised expected deal close target of July.

Smurfit Kappa investors will own approximately 50.4% of the new company, Smurfit WestRock.

Smurfit WestRock will be one of the largest packaging companies in the world, with a combined revenue of roughly $34 billion in the year to July.

Here is a breakdown of the key terms of the acquisition:

The companies will form Smurfit WestRock through a holding company incorporated and domiciled in Ireland, and will seek a New York listing with a standard listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Smurfit Kappa's WestRock would be larger in packaging board capacity than China's Nine Dragons, with 23 million tons per year of packaging board capacity.

Nine Dragons operates 14.8 million tonnes/yr of containerboard capacity and 2.6 million tonnes/yr of consumer packaging capacity, with plans to add another 6.2 million tonnes/yr of capacity in packaging board in China and Southeast Asia.

The proposed deal between Smurfit Kappa and WestRock would make Smurfit Kappa the largest containerboard producer in the US, surpassing China's Nine Dragons in packaging board capacity.

Smurfit Kappa's CEO, Tony Smurfit, has a family legacy in the industry, with his father, Michael WJ Smurfit, doing a mega-merger involving Ireland's Jefferson Smurfit and the US's Stone Container in 1998.

The Smurfit-Stone company was established as one of the largest containerboard producers in the US through this deal, and RockTenn later acquired it in 2011 for $3.5 billion.

WestRock's capacity share is about 20% in North American containerboard, while International Paper's (IP) share is 30%, making it the largest containerboard producer and corrugated boxmaker in North America.