Smurfit Kappa dip on last day on Iseq as High Court clears merger

Smurfit Kappa shares drifted lower on their last day of trading on the Irish stock market on Tuesday, ahead of the group’s planned $24 billion (€22.4bn) merger with US-based WestRock on Friday to create the world’s largest paper packaging giant.

The Irish cardboard box-making giant received clearance from the High Court in Dublin earlier in the day to proceed with what is essentially a takeover of WestRock through a so-called scheme of arrangement.

Shares in the company ended the session in Dublin down 0.4 per cent at €41.44, giving it a market value of €10.8 billion. Still they remain up 36 per cent over the past 12 months.

Smurfit Kappa shareholders will own 50.4 per cent of the enlarged group, which will be known as Smurfit WestRock as the deal closes a 5pm New York time on Friday.

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The group will move its primary stock market listing from London to the New York Stock Exchange next Monday. It will remain headquartered in Dublin and be led by Smurfit Kappa’s current chief executive Tony Smurfit and its chief financial officer Ken Bowles.

The Irish delisting will end Smurfit Kappa’s association with the Dublin market that stretches back to 1964, albeit with a gap in the in the 2000s when the company was owned by private equity investors.

It also marks the third exit of an Iseq heavyweight in 10 months. CRH, the former long-standing biggest company on the market, dropped its Irish listing last September and moved its main quotation from London to New York. Betting group Flutter Entertainment, parent of Paddy Power bookmakers, left the Irish stock market in January.

The outlook for the packaging industry has improved significantly from when the merger agreement was announced last September. At the time box-makers were dealing with a slump in demand that followed a global spike in spending on physical goods, from TVs to patio furniture, during pandemic lockdowns.

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