Sonoco completes Weidenhammer acquisition

Headquartered in Hockenheim, Germany, Weidenhammer has approximately 1,100 employees and operates 13 production facilities, including five in Germany, along with individual plants in Belgium, France, Greece, The Netherlands, the UK, the US, Chile and Russia.

In addition to producing composite cans, drums and luxury tubes, it produces unique rigid plastic containers using state-of-the-art thin-walled injection molding technology with modern in-mold labeling.

The markets it serves include processed foods, powdered beverages, tobacco, confectionery, personal care, pet food, pharmaceuticals and home and garden products.

Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. It has more than 21,000 employees working in upwards of 340 operations in 34 countries, serving some of the world’s best known brands in some 85 nations.

As previously announced, the deal strengthens Sonoco’s packaging business in Europe and expands its expertise in stable, highly decorated convenience packaging. The acquisition offers Weidenhammer additional growth prospects with new customers and new markets.

To finance the transaction, Sonoco entered into a credit agreement for a new 600 million USD bank credit facility earlier in October. Included in that facility is a new 350 million USD, five-year revolving credit facility, which replaces an existing credit facility under substantially the same terms. The 350 million USD revolving credit facility is being used to support an identically sized commercial paper program. Also included in the credit agreement is a new 250 million USD three-year term loan, which was used to fund the acquisition.

The acquisition of Weidenhammer is expected to have no material impact on Sonoco’s fourth quarter 2014 base earnings.

M. Jack Sanders, Sonoco president and chief executive officer, said: ‘We are extremely excited to welcome Weidenhammer’s leadership team and its 1,100 associates into the Sonoco family.

‘The acquisition creates a global leader in rigid paper packaging and is expected to increase Sonoco’s combined global consumer-related packaging and services business to approximately 2.8 billion USD in annual sales or approximately 53 percent of the company’s combined revenue of approximately 5.4 billion USD.

‘In addition, the combination is expected to increase Sonoco’s net sales in Europe to approximately 21 percent of total sales.’