Smurfit Kappa completes US$536m acquisition of Reparenco

03 Jul 2018 --- Irish paper supplier Smurfit Kappa group has completed a US$536 million purchase of Reparenco, a paper and recycling business in the Netherlands. The move hopes to increase Smurfit Kappa’s capacity of recycled containerboard in Europe. The acquisition plans were first announced in late May this year.

“We are very pleased to complete the acquisition of Reparenco and to welcome their 315 employees to Smurfit Kappa. There is a strong cultural fit between our businesses and we are excited about the potential for Reparenco within the Smurfit Kappa integrated system,” says Saverio Mayer, Smurfit Kappa CEO.

“Reparenco represents early delivery of a central element of our Medium Term Plan – to increase our European recycled containerboard capacity. It is ideally situated in our core European operating region where we continue to see strong demand driven by growth in e-commerce and increased substitution of plastic with paper-based packaging. The mill is also very well placed on the cost curve and specializes in producing basis weights from 80 to 120 grams which caters for the market’s growing demand for lighter-weight materials,” he adds.

“The acquisition of Reparenco will strengthen our integrated business model and adds 405,000 tonnes of recycled containerboard capacity to our system.We are also pleased to have acquired a high quality graphic paper machine very well positioned in its market. While the machine offers the potential for conversion to containerboard over the medium-term, our intention is to continue to produce graphic paper for our customers for the foreseeable future,” says Laurent Sellier, Smurfit Kappa COO, Paper Europe.

“The 750,000-tonne recycling operation increases our security and quality of raw material supply and also ensures we can provide our customers with greater certainty about the quality and performance of our products.”

In related Smurfit Kappa coverage, last month, US-based packaging giants, International Paper, has announced that they will not be making any further bids to acquire Smurfit Kappa. The latter rejected two approaches from International Paper which were deemed to undervalue the company’s “true intrinsic worth.” This followed the events of February, when International Paper provided representatives of Smurfit Kappa's Board of Directors with a proposal to acquire the company.”