ZURICH/EVANSVILLE – Just days after completing the spin-off of its health and hygiene business, Berry Global has announced a definitive merger agreement with Zurich-based packaging giant, Amcor.
Under the terms of the all-stock transaction, Berry shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 7.25 Amcor shares for each Berry share held upon closing, resulting in Amcor and Berry shareholders owning approximately 63% and 37% of the combined company, respectively.
The transaction has received unanimous approval of the boards of directors of both Amcor and Berry and values Berry’s common stock at $73.59 per share.
The combination brings together two highly complementary businesses to create a global leader in consumer packaging solutions, with a broader flexible film and converted film offering for customers, a scaled containers and closures business and a unique global healthcare portfolio.
Amcor CEO, Peter Konieczny, commented: “This combination delivers on our strategy to accelerate growth by putting the customer first, elevating the role of sustainability and orienting the portfolio toward faster growing, higher margin categories.
“We will have a more complete and more sustainable product offering, supported by stronger innovation capabilities, global scale and supply chain flexibility. We will help global and local customers grow faster and operate more efficiently with a team of exceptional talent.
“As a result, this combination also drives a step change in annual free cash flow, earnings growth and value creation for our shareholders. I, and the Amcor team, look forward to joining with Berry to accelerate change and real impact for our customers and their consumers.”
The merger will create a global product offering in flexibles, containers and closures by combining Amcor’s global flexibles and regional containers businesses with Berry’s regional flexibles and global containers and closures businesses.
It will also bring together complementary innovation capabilities and platforms, material science expertise and specialised tooling, design and multi-component assembly capabilities.
Berry CEO, Kevin Kwilinski, added: “Over the past year, Berry has undergone a significant transformation, completing the spin-off of our HHNF business, enhancing our product mix and optimizing our portfolio.
“Our combination with Amcor is a logical next step in our company’s evolution, and it is a testament to our entire team that we’re well positioned to build on this momentum and deliver even more value to our shareholders.
“We expect to better serve customers through a comprehensive and innovative consumer packaging portfolio and a complementary geographic coverage. Importantly Berry and Amcor have aligned philosophies focused on safety, employee experience, sustainability, innovation, customer intimacy, and functional excellence. We will be better together, and I look forward to all we will achieve as a combined organisation.”
The joint firm will have a combined R&D investment of $180 million per year with approximately 1,500 R&D professionals, 10 innovation centres worldwide and 400 production facilities. The combined revenue will be around $24 billion with adjusted EBITDA of around $4.3 billion.
