Sealed Air Announces New Business Unit Structure and Leadership to Maximize Opportunities and Synergies

03 Nov 2011

Sealed Air Corporation has announced its next step in the integration of the Diversey business, including the establishment of new business units in 2012.

"As part of our integration process, we plan to organize Sealed Air into three business units focused on food safety and security, facility hygiene and product protection. This market-oriented organization will help maximize the opportunities and value creation we expect to generate from the Diversey acquisition," said William V. Hickey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sealed Air.

The benefits of this organizational design will:

Simplify their organizational structure and reduce complexity;
Develop management capabilities for the future;
Leverage economies of scale in key market sectors and geographies;
Focus and accelerate growth in developing markets across all businesses;
Maximize shared customer and development opportunities in Food & Beverage;
Optimize benefits in purchasing, manufacturing and logistics;
Accelerate realization of cost synergies; and
Exceed initial synergy estimates.

The new design will consist of three global business units and a developing markets group to ensure accelerated growth in the key developing regions. This new structure is expected to be implemented in 2012 and will replace our legacy six business unit structure and Diversey's legacy four region-based structure.

The new business units will be led by experienced leaders from Sealed Air and Diversey. The business units and leaders in the new organization will be:

Food & Beverage -- This business combines Sealed Air's legacy Food Packaging and Food Solutions businesses with Diversey's Food & Beverage applications. Together, this new segment will leverage industry-leading expertise in food science and microbiology to deliver solutions that protect and enhance the food and beverage supply chain to ensure food and beverages are prepared and processed in a safe and efficient environment, will offer extended product shelf life, reduced waste, and provide value-added convenience benefits. This business is expected to represent approximately 45% of Sealed Air revenue and will be led by Karl Deily, an experienced leader with over 30 years at Sealed Air. Karl currently leads Sealed Air's global Food Packaging business.
Institutional & Laundry -- This business will consist of Diversey's building care, laundry and infection control solutions for Building Service Contractors/Facility Management, Retail, Food Service, Hospitality and Health Care sectors. This business is expected to represent approximately 30% of Sealed Air revenue and will be led by Pedro Chidichimo, a senior executive with over 15 years at Diversey. Pedro currently leads Diversey's Global Customer Solutions and Innovation efforts and was previously the President of the Europe, Middle East and Africa business.
Protective Packaging -- This business will combine Sealed Air's legacy Protective Packaging, Shrink Packaging and Specialty Materials businesses to provide customers with a broad portfolio of protective packaging systems across a range of applications and industries. This business is expected to represent approximately 20% of Sealed Air revenue and will be led by Ryan Flanagan, an experienced Sealed Air leader with over a 20 year background serving in both the Protective Packaging and Food Packaging businesses. Ryan currently leads Sealed Air's global Protective Packaging business.

With developing regions representing a significant opportunity for the future, we will establish a Developing Markets group to address the portfolio needs and solution requirements in Africa, Asia, India, the Middle East and Turkey. This group will support the global businesses in this dynamic part of the world and will be led by Yagmur Sagnak, a Diversey leader with extensive experience in emerging markets.

There will also be a small "Other" category, which will include our Medical Applications business and New Ventures. This category will continue to be led by Ruth Roper, an experienced Sealed Air leader with extensive business development experience.

Until the new organization is implemented, we will continue to report using these five business areas: Food Packaging, Food Solutions, Protective Packaging, Diversey, and an Other category. Additionally, there will be no immediate changes in how we manage our business with our customers, including the products, solutions and services we provide.

As part of this transition, Ed Lonergan, Chief Executive Officer of the legacy Diversey organization, has decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities. Ed has agreed to work with Sealed Air in a consulting role through the next six months to ensure a smooth transition of the integration process.

Additionally, Norman Clubb, Diversey's Chief Financial Officer, has decided to retire prior to the end of 2011.

We expect to provide additional detail on our new organization, its leadership and an update regarding our Chief Financial Officer position later this year.

Source: Sealed Air Corporation