Israel´s Keter Plastics (IL-46766 Herzliya) has acquired Curver Consumer Products (GB-Corby, Northamptonshire; www.curver.com), the European indoor organization and home storage division of US-based Newell Rubbermaid (Atlanta, Georgia; www.newellco.com). The deal was transacted through Keter´s European arm, Jardin International Holding (NL-5120 AE Rijen; www.jardin.nl). Keter will pay USD 5m in cash and a note for USD 5m and will make payments of up to USD 25m, based on earnings for the five years ending in 2009, a spokesperson for NewellRubbermaid told the Associated Press news service. The US group expects to post a transaction-related non-cash loss of USD 75-95m in this year´s first quarter.

Sami Sagol, CEO of the family-owned Keter (the name means “crown” in English), which employs 3,500 people – half of them outside Israel – last year told an Israeli newspaper he hoped to widen the group´s annual turnover to around USD 3-4 bn by 2010 (see PIE 16, 2004). The Curver buy will add sales of USD 140m. Including the figures of sanitary equipment manufacturer Allibert (F-38240 Voreppe; www.allibert.fr), acquired in December 2003 and consolidated for the first time in 2004 (see PIE 17, 2003), Keter has annual turnover of around USD 700m. In mid-2004, Sagol is believed to have made a bid to acquire all of the Rubbermaid business from Newell.