WestRock shareholders greenlight Smurfit Kappa mega-merger

17 Jun 2024 --- WestRock shareholders have voted in favor of the proposed merger with Smurfit Kappa. Announced last week, the company says a preliminary vote count approved measures relating to the tie-up. 

“If the merger contemplated by the Transaction Agreement is completed, the common stockholders of WestRock will receive one new Smurfit WestRock share and US$5.00 in cash for each share of common stock of WestRock,” says the company. 

According to the terms entered into on September 12, 2023, Smurfit WestRock will acquire Smurfit Kappa by means of a scheme of arrangement under the Companies Act 2014 of Ireland (as amended), and Sun Merger Sub, a wholly owned subsidiary of Smurfit WestRock, will merge with and into WestRock, with WestRock surviving the merger and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Smurfit WestRock.

Last year, when the deal was reached, Rabobank said the US and Latin America stand to benefit from Smurfit Kappa’s experience within the EU, where environmental sustainability regulation is considerably more stringent and the “new energy reality” has triggered demands for greater operational efficiencies.

The Smurfit WestRock US$34 billion tie-up is also expected to inspire product innovation through combined expertise, with this sustainability leadership promising to bolster the paper packaging sector in its substitution competition with other packaging materials, especially plastics.

By Louis Gore-Langton