Dive Brief:
- Amcor said Wednesday that its shareholders and those at Berry Global voted to approve the companies’ $8.4 billion combination, an all-stock deal announced in November.
- Amcor said that 71% of outstanding shares were represented in its vote, with more than 99% in favor of the proposal. For Berry, some 83% of outstanding shares were reflected in the vote, with more than 98% in favor.
- The deal is expected to close in mid-2025, subject to closing conditions, Amcor reiterated. Following the transaction, Amcor expects to service customers in 140 countries via approximately 400 production facilities.
Dive Insight:
Amcor’s proposed takeover of Berry is progressing and integration planning is in effect. Amcor’s Kirby Losch, senior vice president for the integration management office, recently detailed integration team appointments. This includes Eric Roegner, formerly the president of Amcor Rigid Packaging, becoming executive vice president for integration and special projects.
The companies revealed in a prospectus filed in January that Berry was actively considering “several potential strategic alternatives,” including business combinations, as early as January 2024. Berry was in discussions with a “Party A” through April, but in May that unnamed organization decided a combination was not the way to go.
In June, a “Party B” contacted Berry CEO Kevin Kwilinski regarding a proposal for Berry to acquire Party B. A “Party C” also contacted Berry regarding a proposal for Party C to acquire Berry’s rigid healthcare business.
In June, Amcor’s board reviewed a preliminary analysis of a potential business combination with Berry. Amcor’s board authorized CEO Peter Konieczny to contact Berry. Following months of communications and meetings, Berry’s board chair in August received a preliminary, non-binding proposal to combine Berry and Amcor in a stock-for-stock transaction. Amcor and Berry agreed to terms in November.
With Berry, Amcor’s packaging portfolio will have greater scale in consumer goods and healthcare end markets, Konieczny said during the company’s February earnings call.
“Amcor will be uniquely positioned to further refine and prune our portfolio mix,” he said. “This journey is already underway with Berry's recent divestitures of its [health, hygiene and specialties global nonwovens and films] and tapes businesses, which have significantly enhanced their product mix while reducing cyclicality. As a result of further pruning, we will increase average growth rates, margins and cash generation across the remaining portfolio.”
Konieczny told analysts that Amcor considers divestitures “one of the additional levers that we can pull” for faster organic growth and greater margins. With the Berry deal, “we have sort of embarked on a work stream that essentially puts the whole portfolio on the table. And we have started the conversations around that. So, we're on it and we're pretty much looking at everything,” he said.
