Pending the agreement of the monopolies commission, the British company Rexam plc (GB-London SW1P 3XR; www.rexam.co.uk), one of the five world leaders for consumer packaging materials, will be taking over the company Beauty Pumps in Thomsaton, Connecticut from the US packaging group Crown Cork & Seal (CCK, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/USA; www.crowncork.com). Beauty Pumps, the third largest US producer of spray pumps for the cosmetics industry, is part of CCK´s Health & Beauty Plastics Packaging division which is conducting its business under the name of Risdon-AMS. Rexam will be paying USD 107.3m for the production facility which has approximately 300 employees and a turnover of USD 55m.

The company states that the new business is regionally and technologically complementary to the corresponding Rexam activities in Europe which might lead to mutual stimulation and an increase in turnover. According to Rexam, as the third largest producer of spray and dispensing pumps in the world, the company with the new name of Rexam Dispenser Systems will hold a market share of approximately 15%.

With the sale of Beauty Pumps, CCK intends to reduce debts from a pending lawsuit dealing with claims for compensation for damages incurred by the use of asbestos. For roughly three months, in 1963 and 1964, CCK owned a cork producer´s insulation division which is legally sufficient for liability. In contrast to Owens Corning and Armstrong, CCK was able to avoid insolvency but has had to face severe financial shortages for some time.