Rio Tinto Accepts Amcor Offer for Alcan

Source from:  Food Production Daily 12/25/2009

Rio Tinto today formally accepted the offer by Amcor to buy Alcan Packaging for US$2.025bn. The mining giant said the deal would include Alcan's food Europe and food Asia divisions, as well as its global pharmaceutical and tobacco operations. The company said it has issued its approval following completion of the required Works Council consultations. Amcor, which submitted the binding offer on 18 August, 2009, received European Union clearance for the buyout on 14 December. The Australian packaging company was, however, told the deal was contingent on it selling two flexible packing plants in Spain, after the European Commission expressed competition fears. The transaction is still awaiting clearance from authorities in the United States, which are expected to deliver their verdict within the next two weeks. Rio Tinto said its decision to off-load Alcan is part of a global strategy announced in February 2008 to sell assets worth US$10.3bn to balance its books and drive down debt levels. The Alcan deal is one of two outstanding assets up for sale - the other being Maules Creek. Appleton completes C&H Packaging sale In other merger news, US-based company Appleton said it has completed the sale of subsidiary C&H Packaging to InterFlex Group Inc. C&H Packaging was put up for sale last summer by Appleton, which had acquired the Wisconsin based company in April 2003. The firm prints and converts flexible packaging materials, including stand-up pouches, lids and specialty films for cheese, in the food processing industry and employs around 80 people. No details of the sale were disclosed. InterFlex, based in North Carolina, has operation in the United Kingdom and Brazil. Appleton CEO Mark Richards said Appleton intended to focus its performance packaging operations on film production. Enditem