Sonoco, Hartsville, S.C., USA, has completed its acquisition of Weidenhammer Packaging Group (WPG), a European provider of composite cans along with composite drums and rigid plastic containers, for EUR 286 million, or approximately $360 million, in cash.

 

According to M. Jack Sanders, Sonoco president and CEO, "we are extremely excited to welcome Weidenhammer's leadership team and its 1,100 associates into the Sonoco family. The acquisition creates a global leader in rigid paper packaging and is expected to increase Sonoco's combined global consumer-related packaging and services business to approximately $2.8 billion in annual sales or approximately 53% of the company's combined revenue of approximately $5.4 billion. In addition, the combination is expected to increase Sonoco's net sales in Europe to approximately 21% of total sales."

 

Headquartered in Hockenheim, Germany, Weidenhammer has approximately 1,100 employees and operates 13 production facilities, including five in Germany, along with individual plants in Belgium, France, Greece, The Netherlands, U.K., U.S., Chile, and Russia. In addition to producing composite cans, drums, and luxury tubes, WPG produces unique rigid plastic containers using state-of-the-art, thin-walled injection molding technology with modern in-mold labeling. Markets served by the company include processed foods, powdered beverages, tobacco, confectionery, personal care, pet food, pharmaceuticals, and home and garden products. 

As previously reported, the acquisition of Weidenhammer is expected to have no material impact on Sonoco's fourth quarter 2014 base earnings and should be accretive to the company's 2015 base earnings in the range of $.09 to $.14 per share, including adjustments for purchase accounting.