Smurfit Kappa chief executive Tony Smurfit has been chosen as The Irish Times Business Person of the Month for September, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland.
The deal, formally agreed last month, would create Smurfit WestRock, the world’s biggest packaging group with $34 billion (€31.7 billion) in annual revenues. Under the terms of the agreement, Mr Smurfit will be chief executive of the enlarged group.
This is essentially a takeover by Smurfit Kappa of WestRock in a move that will mean the group is headquartered in Dublin, but which will result in its Irish stock market quotation being dropped as it moves its main listing from London to Wall Street.
A largely share-based deal, expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year, will mean Smurfit Kappa shareholders end up with 50.4 per cent of the enlarged group. WestRock investors will also get a $1.28 billion cash payment as part of the $43.51-per-share transaction that values the US group at $11.2 billion.
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The deal is subject to approval from the shareholders of both companies and from regulators. It combines the largest cardboard group in Europe with the number two in the US.
It will also add a consumer packaging business to the Smurfit Kappa portfolio, at a time when brands are increasingly shifting from plastic to sustainable packaging.
