WestRock

Smurfit Kappa completed its acquisition of WestRock, forming Smurfit Westrock, which began trading on the NYSE on 8 July 2024. The deal was valued at nearly $12.7 billion when agreed in April 2024.

WestRock broke ground on a highly automated corrugated box plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, a $140 million project with more than 580,000 square feet, expected to open in April 2025. The plant is one of WestRock's superplants and will lead to the closure of a North Chicago, Illinois facility.

WestRock stockholders voted to approve the transaction agreement for a combination with Smurfit Kappa, creating Smurfit WestRock. Completion remains subject to conditions, and stockholders would receive one new share plus $5.00 in cash per WestRock share.

Smurfit Kappa signed an agreement to acquire Artemis Ltd., a Bag-in-Box packaging plant in Shumen, Bulgaria, that makes bags, films and caps for food and beverage packaging. The deal expands its presence in Eastern Europe.

The Smurfit Kappa and WestRock merger has received US, UK and other clearances, while EU merger and Foreign Subsidies Regulation approvals and Mexico clearance remain pending as of March 25, 2024.

WestRock plans to build a new corrugated box plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, at an estimated cost of about $140 million, partly offset by property sales. The company intends to close its existing North Chicago plant once the new facility is complete.

WestRock will close its existing corrugated box plant in North Chicago, Illinois, once the new Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin facility is complete.

WestRock plans a state-of-the-art corrugated box plant of over 550,000 square feet in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, for about $140 million, with construction expected in 2024 and completion in 2025.

Smurfit Kappa and WestRock announced a transaction to combine into Smurfit WestRock, a global sustainable packaging leader with combined adjusted revenue of about $34 billion. The combined company will be domiciled in Ireland.

Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages will use WestRock's PETCollar Shield Plus paperboard carriers at its Philadelphia plant to replace plastic rings on multipack bottles, expected to be operating by summer 2024 and cutting about 200,000 pounds of plastic a year together with its existing mini-can packaging.

Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages partnered with WestRock to replace plastic multipack rings with paper-based PETCollar Shield Plus carriers, eliminating 200,000 pounds of plastic annually. Installation begins summer 2024 at its Philadelphia facility.

A new $80 million cardboard box plant at the former Longview Fibre pulp and paper mill site in Longview, Washington is scheduled to open within weeks, owned by WestRock.

Smurfit Kappa and WestRock signed a merger agreement valued at about $20 billion, creating the world's largest packaging company by revenue. The Consello Group advised WestRock.

Smurfit Kappa and WestRock announced a merger creating Smurfit WestRock, which will be domiciled in Ireland with global headquarters in Dublin. Smurfit Kappa shareholders will hold 50.4% and WestRock shareholders 49.6%, with closing expected in Q2 2024 subject to regulatory approval.

Sonoco completed its acquisition of the remaining equity in RTS Packaging from joint venture partner WestRock, along with a WestRock paper mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for $330 million. The deal adds 15 operations and 1,100 employees.

WestRock and Smurfit Kappa signed a merger agreement in September 2023 to create Smurfit WestRock, a publicly traded company with about $34 billion in value, 67 pulp mills and around 500 box-making plants, expected to close by March 2024 pending antitrust review.

Smurfit Kappa announced the acquisition of Cartonajes Carrion, a Spanish packaging producer located in Alcolea, Cordoba, with a strong presence in high-quality retail packaging and printing. No financial details were published.

Clayco, JB2 Partners and ElmTree Funds broke ground on WestRock's new 410,000-square-foot corrugated box plant in Longview, Washington. Production is due to begin in fall 2023 and create about 40 jobs.

WestRock completed its acquisition of the remaining interest in Grupo Gondi for $970 million plus assumed debt. The Mexican business includes four paper mills, nine corrugated packaging plants and six high graphic plants.

WestRock agreed to divest its ownership interest in RTS Packaging to joint venture partner Sonoco for $330 million, and to sell its Eaton, Indiana and Aurora, Illinois uncoated recycled paperboard mills to Ox Industries for $50 million. Closing is expected in the first half of 2023.

WestRock agreed to sell its uncoated recycled paperboard mills in Eaton, Indiana, and Aurora, Illinois, to Ox Industries for $50 million, with closing expected in late 2022 or early 2023.

Sonoco agreed to buy WestRock's remaining equity in the RTS Packaging joint venture, plus a WestRock paper mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for $330 million in cash. About 1,100 employees will join Sonoco; closing is expected in the first half of 2023.

WestRock will permanently close its corrugated medium operations at its St. Paul, Minnesota facility in the United States.

Sonoco agreed to buy WestRock's remaining equity interest in RTS Packaging, plus a WestRock paper mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for $330 million in cash, with closing expected in the first half of 2023.

WestRock delivered its Cluster-Pak EvoTech fibre-based multipack packaging to Budějovický Budvar and Mattoni 1873 for the non-alcoholic beer BIRGO, deployed on a new production line with up to 50,000 cans per hour.

WestRock agreed to acquire the remaining 67.7% interest in Mexican packaging producer Grupo Gondi for $970 million plus assumed debt, an implied enterprise value of $1.763 billion. The deal expands WestRock's Latin American packaging operations.

WestRock held a ceremonial groundbreaking for a $47 million expansion of its Claremont plant, adding 285,000 square feet to grow production of food, food service and beverage packaging, with 50 new jobs expected by end of 2023.

Grupo Modelo, working with WestRock and Grupo Gondi, is switching from plastic ring carriers to CanCollar Eco paperboard multipack collars in Quintana Roo, Mexico, at an investment of about $4 million. The first phase is projected to eliminate more than 100 tons of plastic waste.

WestRock plans a new corrugated boxing plant in Longview, Cowlitz County, double the size of its current facility, to be built by the end of 2023. The company cites growing demand from regional customers in the Pacific Northwest.

WestRock will invest more than $47 million to expand its Claremont manufacturing facility in Catawba County, North Carolina, adding a 285,000 sq ft building and 50 new jobs, supported by a $125,000 One NC Fund grant.

WestRock will invest more than $47 million to expand its Claremont manufacturing facility in Catawba County, North Carolina, adding a 285,000 square foot building and 50 new jobs.

Heinz rolled out its Eco-Friendly Sleeve Multipack in the UK, a paperboard sleeve for canned products made with WestRock's PEFC-certified CarrierKote paperboard.

Heinz rolled out a recyclable paperboard sleeve for its UK multipack cans, made with WestRock CarrierKote paperboard, as part of a three-year GBP 25 million investment at its Kitt Green factory near Wigan. The sleeve is available in major UK retailers from September 2021.

WestRock started up the Três Barras paper mill expansion in Paraná, Brazil, raising kraftliner capacity to 750,000 tonnes per year from 480,000. The expansion cost $350 million within a wider $1.2 billion Brazil investment cycle.

Liquibox and WestRock have launched a Ships in Own Container bag-in-box solution for liquid e-commerce packaging, combining Liquibox's recyclable Liquipure flexible packaging with WestRock's Meta box designs.

The Santa Catarina state government delivered the environmental operating license for WestRock's expansion of its Três Barras paper mill. The project, begun in February 2019, cost about US$345 million and raises paper capacity to about 685,000 tonnes a year.

WestRock is partnering with Heinz UK to use its Cluster-Wing paperboard multipack, removing 550 tons of plastic packaging, backed by a three-year £25 million automation investment at Heinz's Kitt Green factory.

Coca-Cola European Partners began manufacturing and distributing WestRock's CanCollar cardboard can collation ring at its Barcelona plant, first in the Balearic Islands, after a 2.6 million euro plant investment this year.

Coca-Cola European Partners invested EUR 2.6 million in its Barcelona plant, with WestRock supplying CanCollar Fortuna equipment, to replace plastic multipack rings with paperboard. The solution launches in the Balearic Islands in November 2020.

WestRock announced its acquisition of Hanna Group Pty Ltd (Hannapak), an Australian folding carton provider serving beverage, food, confectionery and healthcare markets, to expand its consumer packaging business in the region. The announcement is dated 5 August 2020 and no deal value was disclosed.

Packaging manufacturer WestRock appointed Rajiv Banavali as senior vice president for science and innovation.

WestRock is investing a further US$345 million in expanding its paper mill in Três Barras, Santa Catarina. The article dates this plan to its October 2019 announcement.

WestRock officially opened its corrugated packaging plant in Porto Feliz, São Paulo state, on 3 October 2019, with annual capacity of 400 million square metres and an investment of US$125 million. The output of the Valinhos plant was moved to the new site.

WestRock agreed to supply at least 2.2 million tons of containerboard and paperboard grades over three years, April 2019 to March 2022, to independent buyers represented by AICC. The agreement was signed on March 31, 2019.

Westrock inaugurated a mega plant producing corrugated cardboard packaging in Porto Feliz, São Paulo state, Brazil.

WestRock announced approval of a US$345 million investment to expand its paper mill in Três Barras, Santa Catarina, boosting HyPerform kraft paper capacity to about 685k metric tons a year from about 470k. The announcement was made on 4 November 2018.

The US Department of Justice approved WestRock's proposed $4.9bn acquisition of KapStone Paper and Packaging through Whisky Holdco. The deal was originally agreed in January 2018.

The U.S. Department of Justice cleared WestRock's pending acquisition of KapStone Paper and Packaging through Whiskey Holdco, with closing expected November 2, 2018 after the last antitrust approval.

WestRock signed an agreement to acquire German leaflet and booklet supplier Schlüter Print Pharma Packaging, which will join its Multi Packaging Solutions business. The deal expands WestRock's pharma and European footprint.

Valmet signed a contract with WestRock to supply a Kraft linerboard machine for WestRock's mill in Florence, US, replacing three narrow-width paper machines.

WestRock agreed to acquire KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. for about $3.5 billion, or about $4.9 billion including KapStone's net debt of about $1.36 billion. The deal is expected to close in the quarter ending September 30 and generate about $200 million in savings by fiscal 2021.

WestRock has entered into agreements to acquire substantially all assets of Plymouth Packaging, a corrugated packaging company, including its Box on Demand systems and its equity interest in Panotec. The announcement was made on December 19, 2017.

WestRock confirmed an investment of more than US$125 million to build a large corrugated cardboard plant in Porto Feliz, São Paulo state, with works starting in 2017 and completion expected in Q2 2019.

WestRock has entered into agreements to acquire substantially all of the assets of Plymouth Packaging, a corrugated packaging company known for its Box on Demand systems. The deal also includes Plymouth's equity stake in Panotec and its US and Canada distribution rights.

WestRock announced plans to build a new corrugated box plant in Porto Feliz, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, to serve growing regional demand. Construction is expected to begin later in 2017 and finish in mid-2019.

Oliver Printing & Packaging Co. completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Pohlig Bros., LLC from Michael Gaffney, James Petit and WestRock, with Gaffney and Petit retaining significant ownership. Pohlig keeps its facilities and all employees.

WestRock announced the acquisition of Hanna Group Pty Ltd (Hannapak), a folding carton provider in North Richmond, New South Wales, for AUD 75 million in cash. The business converts about 30,000 tons of paperboard a year.

WestRock completed the acquisition of five corrugated cardboard plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Louisiana from U.S. Corrugated for $192 million in cash and common shares. WestRock also secured about 50 thousand tons of supply through a long-term contract.

WestRock completed its acquisition of US-based Multi Packaging Solutions International (MPS) for $2.28bn, after receiving all regulatory approvals. WestRock paid $18 per share in cash and assumed about $873m in net debt.

WestRock agreed to acquire five corrugated converting facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Louisiana from U.S. Corrugated Holdings for about $192 million in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in June 2017.

The European Commission received notice on 7 April 2017 that WestRock will acquire sole control of Multi Packaging Solutions International through a share purchase. The commission is reviewing the deal as case M.8421.

US packaging company WestRock will buy Multi Packaging Solutions International for about $1.39 billion to expand its spirits, confectionery and cosmetics packaging portfolio. The report was published on January 24, 2017.

WestRock agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Multi Packaging Solutions (MPS) for $18.00 per share in cash plus about $873 million of net debt, a total enterprise value of $2.28 billion. The deal was announced on January 24, 2017.

Silgan Holdings agreed to buy WestRock's specialty closures and dispensing business for about $1 billion, a purchase that includes 13 plants.

WestRock announced in October 2016 a $48 million expansion of its Sioux City, Iowa corrugated box operations, consolidating two plants into an 82,000 square foot addition at the Bridgeport Drive plant with new automated equipment.