American paper packaging firm International Paper has voiced its disappointment that it hadn’t been able to engage with Irish based packaging giant Smurfit Kappa, which rejected a raised €8.9 billion takeover bid last month, according to reports by RTÉ.
"We have a compelling proposal on the table and we're disappointed we haven't been able to engage with Smurfit Kappa," said Mark Sutton, International Paper chairman and CEO. "There is a process that we are in right now and we will continue to look at our options and I'm not at liberty to say what the next decision is.”
The US-based company had proposed to acquire Smurfit Kappa, noting that the deal would be an “excellent strategic fit” for both parties.
However, the Irish based company rejected the offer, describing it as a “fundamentally opportunistic” and unsolicited proposal from International Paper.
Group Value
Smurfit Kappa said that the deal failed "entirely to reflect the group's strong growth prospects and attractive industry outlook”.
International paper disagreed with the characterisation as opportunistic and said that an enlarged group would be a “premier global packaging company” that would have the capacity to serve local and global customers more effectively.
The Irish company has been vying for possible takeover targets in the US. Its expansionary ambitions have occupied growing speculation among investors.
This was especially the case after recent filings by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, DC, showed that American packaging firm WestRock competed with two other bidders in its successful $3.5 billion (€2.8 billion) acquisition of KapStone Paper, a deal that wouldn’t have been beyond Smurfit Kappa’s reach, according to analysts.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Kevin Duggan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
