US plastic food and beverage container producer Constar International (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; www.constar.net) has agreed to sell its American assets to Amcor Rigid Plastics USA (Ann Arbor, Michigan; www.amcor.com) under a stalking horse agreement after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 19 December in the US state of Delaware. The deal with Amcor is subject to higher and better offers and approval of the bankruptcy court, as well as the usual closing conditions. The transaction is expected to complete during the first quarter of 2014.

In court papers, Constar listed assets of as much as USD 100m and debt as high as USD 500m. The largest unsecured creditors include DAK Americas (Wilmington, North Carolina / US; www.dakamericas.com) and DAK Resinas in Mexico, owed more than USD 15m, and Britvic Soft Drinks (Hemel Hempstead / UK; www.britvic.co.uk) which is owed USD 5.43m. Constar said it will continue to operate in the US as well as in Europe where the company is currently evaluating the sale of its operations to one or more third parties.

Constar has filed for bankruptcy protection twice before, in 2008 and 2011. In the latter case, the company exchanged debt for equity, blaming unmanageable debt on a shift in the food industry to making plastic containers in-house instead of buying them.

One year ago, Constar announced plans to exit the commodity carbonated soft drink (CSD) market following the expiry of a large contract. Operations in Mississippi and Maryland were cut with the loss of about 80 jobs – see Plasteurope.com of 07.01.2013.