Amcor buying Berry Global in $8.4B deal

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Two of the world's largest plastics companies are combining as Amcor plc announces an $8.43 billion deal to buy Berry Global Group Inc.

The acquisition combines Amcor's global flexibles and regional containers businesses with Berry's regional flexibles and global containers and closures businesses.

Amcor CEO Peter Konieczny will lead the combined business, which will have annual sales of $24 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation, amortization and taxes of $4.3 billion.

Zurich-based Amcor and Evansville, Ind.-based Berry announced the deal before U.S. markets opened on Nov. 19.

Konieczny said the move will elevate the role of sustainability and orient Amcor's portfolio toward faster growing, higher margin categories.

"We will have a more complete and more sustainable product offering, supported by stronger innovation capabilities, global scale and supply chain flexibility," Konieczny said in a news release. "We will help global and local customers grow faster and operate more efficiently with a team of exceptional talent."

This news continues what has been a year of big changes for Berry Global. On Nov. 4, Berry completed the spinoff of a significant portion of the company — the firm's Health, Hygiene and Specialties division along with its films unit.

Those businesses were combined with Glatfelter Corp. to create a new company called Magnera Corp.

Even after spinning off that business, Berry is one of the largest plastics processors in the world. Berry is the largest injection molder in North America according to Plastics News' ranking with more than $2 billion in annual sales. It also comes in at No. 3 in thermoforming with $750 million in sales, No. 12 in blow molding with $529 million and No. 15 among North American toolmakers with $60 million in sales.

"Over the past year, Berry has undergone a significant transformation, completing the spin-off of our HHNF business, enhancing our product mix and optimizing our portfolio," Berry CEO Kevin Kwilinski said. "Our combination with Amcor is a logical next step in our company's evolution, and it is a testament to our entire team that we're well positioned to build on this momentum and deliver even more value to our shareholders."

In their announcement, the companies highlighted that merging the two companies will create a stronger business, strategically focused on high-growth, high-margin categories with greater capabilities and a more complete product offering for customers.

Amcor said the combined business will be an "innovation leader with more capabilities and significantly higher capacity to invest in solving technical challenges with combined R&D investment of $180 million per annum, [about] 1,500 R&D professionals, 10 innovation centers worldwide and 7,000+ patents, registered designs, and trademarks."

Amcor is the top company in Plastics News' ranking of North American blow molders, with relevant sales of $3.54 billion. Amcor Flexibles North America is No. 2 on PN's list of film & sheet manufacturers, with sales of $3.25 billion in the region.

The companies have about 400 production plants and serve customers is more than 140 countries.

The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and is scheduled for the middle of 2025.

Konieczny will serve as CEO, Graeme Liebelt as chairman and Stephen Sterrett as deputy chairman. The global headquarters will be in Zurich, but the company "expects to maintain a significant presence in Evansville."

Amcor was founded in Australia but moved its corporate headquarters from Melbourne to Zurich in 2015, noting at the time that it had a relatively small footprint in Australia, less than 5 percent of its total sales.

Berry's roots date to 1967, when four men left Sunbeam Plastics, a big molder in Evansville, to start Imperial Plastics.

Jack Berry, an orange grower from Florida, bought Imperial Plastics in 1983 and renamed it Berry Plastics. He sold the company six years later to First Atlantic Capital, the first in a string of private-equity owners. Multiple acquisitions followed, including Landis Plastics Inc. in 2004, which added thermoforming, and Berry acquired RPC Corp. in 2019, which dramatically increased the company's overseas footprint.

Berry went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012.

With this new deal, Berry shareholders will receive 7.25 Amcor shares for each Berry share held upon closing, resulting in Amcor and Berry shareholders owning approximately 63 percent and 37 percent of the combined company, respectively. The transaction has unanimous approval of the boards of directors of both Amcor and Berry and values Berry's common stock at $73.59 per share. The stock had closed Nov. 18 at $67.05 per share.