Bemis (Minneapolis, Minnesota / USA; www.bemis.com) is to acquire the Chicago, Illinois / USA-based Food Americas operations of Alcan Packaging (Paris / France; www.alcanpackaging.com) for USD 1.2 bn. Bemis will acquire 23 facilities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and New Zealand that produce flexible packaging for the food and beverage industries. In 2008, Alcan Packaging Food Americas reported operating profit (EBITDA) of around USD 166m on sales of USD 1.5 bn.

Bemis increased its sales in 2008 by 40% year-on-year to USD 5.3 bn, with food packaging accounting for 70% of sales, compared with 57% in 2007. In additional to additional revenues, the transaction will add almost 4,600 employees to the company’s workforce, bringing it to over 20,000 at 84 worldwide manufacturing locations. It expects over USD 65m of annual pretax synergies to be achieved by the end of the second year following the acquisition date, with 50% of this in the first year. In June 2009, Bemis acquired the rigid plastic consumer goods business of Finnish packaging group Huhtamaki (Espoo; www.huhtamaki.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 10.06.2009.