American National Can Co. plans to buy Union Camp Corp.'s flexible plastics packaging plant in Asheville, N.C. ANC is a major producer of extruded film and blow molded plastics products, such as bottles, bags, pouches and tubes. Union Camp of Wayne, N.J., is divesting the plant to focus on its core flexible packaging business, which includes multiwall paperboard packaging and industrial film and paper sacks.
The companies expect the deal to close by April. Terms were not disclosed.
The Asheville plant produces specialized packaging, including extrusion coated and laminated products for dry grocery, photographic and pharmaceutical products, and spiral labels for frozen juices and snack foods. ``We're pleased that we've been able to reach an agreement to sell our Asheville plant as an ongoing operation,'' Tim Keneally, head of Union Camp's Flexible Packaging Division, said in an ANC news release.
The 200,000-square-foot operation employs about 160, Union Camp spokesman Bill Summers said by telephone March 22.
The plant will serve ANC customers in the southeastern United States.
Separately, Chicago-based ANC recently purchased a 21,600-square-foot building in Boscobel, Wis., from Boscobel Developers Ltd., for an undisclosed price.
The company is converting the building into a plastic food-packaging operation, and expects to begin production there midyear. The site is close to many of ANC's food-processing customers, said Dennis Kester, senior vice president of ANC's Food Plastic North America business. The plant, ANC's third in Wisconsin, will employ about 20.
If the Union Camp deal goes through, ANC will have 13 plastic packaging plants in the United States. The firm is the fourth-largest film manufacturer in North America, based on Plastics ' data, with estimated annual film sales of $500 million. Markets include food, medical and personal-care packaging, as well as shrink and barrier film.
Plastics News also ranks it as No. 17 among blow molders, with estimated sales last year of about $47 million in food and car-care products, such as motor oil.
With more than 90 facilities in 40 countries, ANC recorded 1993 sales of $4.14 billion. Its parent, publicly held Pechiney International SA, is in Paris.