WestRock is in merger talks with Ireland’s
Smurfit Kappa
that could potentially create a paper and packaging company worth about $20 billion.
Dublin-based Smurfit (ticker: SKG.U.K.), listed in Ireland and on the U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 index, confirmed the talks in a statement Thursday after it was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The combined group would only be listed in New York.
WestRock
(WRK) shareholders would “primarily” receive stock in the combined group, but no further details were given by Smurfit.
Westrock shares jumped 7.6% in premarket trading. Smurfit shares slipped 1.5% in London.
The discussions are still taking place and the transaction may not happen, the company said. The new company would have global headquarters in Dublin and run its North and South American operations from Atlanta, where WestRock is based now.
International Paper
(IP) abandoned a bid for
Smurfit Kappa
in 2018, and since then Smurfit has made several acquisitions. WestRock’s biggest transaction to date was the $5 billion acquisition of KapStone Paper and Packaging in 2018.
Write to Brian Swint at [email protected]
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