Dive Brief:

• South Carolina-based Sonoco today completed its acquisition of Switzerland-based metal packaging company Eviosys from KPS Capital Partners for more than 3.6 billion euros, or about $3.8 billion. The companies first announced the deal in June.
• In the coming months, Eviosys will transition to the Sonoco brand and will fall under the latter company’s consumer packaging segment. Current Eviosys CEO Tomás López will continue to lead that business.
• Sonoco said in a press release that this transaction creates a global leader in metal food and aerosol can manufacturing with a greater geographical and product range. Eviosys has 44 facilities in 17 countries. 

Dive Insight:

This transaction supports Sonoco’s restructuring activities in 2024 intended to put a greater focus on metal product production, following its acquisition of Ball Metalpack in 2022.

Sonoco President and CEO Howard Coker said in a Wednesday statement that the company is “excited to begin executing our integration plans and welcome the incredibly talented team at Eviosys. We see new and significant opportunities to unlock additional capabilities and end-markets in this larger, scaled business and look forward to investing in our combined product platform as we meet the growing demand for innovative solutions from our customers.”

Eviosys solely produces metal packaging such as food cans and ends, aerosol cans, metal closures and promotional packaging. During a June 24 call with investors following the transaction announcement, Coker said, “We see value where others may not.” Executives also said on that call that the acquisition would result in a more geographically balanced revenue distribution: 57% coming from the Americas, 35% from Europe and 8% from the rest of the world.

Sonoco reported 2023 net sales of approximately $6.8 billion, and last month it reported net sales of $1.68 billion for the third quarter of 2024. It has about 22,000 employees globally. Eviosys reported about $2.5 billion in revenue for 2023, and it has 6,300 employees globally.

Sonoco is undergoing a period of significant change. Earlier this year, the company announced a restructuring to create four core business units: metal packaging, thermoformed and flexible packaging, industrial packaging and rigid paper containers. In September, it announced a strategic review of its flex-therm business; an auction process ensued, and a signed agreement is expected soon. The company also plans to divest its temperature-assured packaging business, possibly by late next year. Collectively, these moves largely remove Sonoco from plastic packaging production. 

In its Q3 filing, Sonoco discussed closures for multiple facilities, including in Washington state, Canada, China and Greece. Executives said at the time that they expect the sale of two production facilities in China to be complete this quarter.

Private equity firm KPS created Eviosys in August 2021 to acquire Crown Holdings’ Europe, Middle East and Africa food and consumer packaging business. Although Crown retained a 20% ownership interest, it was not directly involved in the Sonoco transaction. However, Crown announced today that it will receive approximately $300 million in net cash proceeds for its remaining equity stake.

“This completes the strategic divestiture of our European Tinplate business. ... [T]he proceeds will support our stated objective of ending the year with a net leverage ratio below 3.0x, while continuing to progress toward our longer-term target of 2.5x,” Kevin Clothier, Crown senior vice president and CFO, said in a statement.