Amcor confirms packaging buy-out talks with Alcan

Company secretary and group general manager Julie McPherson made the statement in response to a price query today.

“Those discussions are confidential and incomplete in nature, and there can be no assurance that any binding proposal or transaction will result from those discussions,” she said.

“As part of Amcor’s consideration of this potential transaction, it is considering all its funding options.”

No details were given, however, of which part of the Alcan Packaging business was the subject of the talks.

The statement follows months of speculation that Australian group Amcor has been interested in the Alcan business, which is owned by the Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto mining group.

In September, Packaging News reported that it was believed that Amcor had joined a bidding war that included US firm Bemis, for Alcan’s £2.5bn packaging business.

Rio Tinto put the division up for sale after its £19bn takeover of Alcan Packaging in 2007. At the time the group was aiming to recoup £7.5bn in asset sales in a bid to cut debt for that sale. A figure of 46bn has been suggested as the likely price for the division.

Alcan Packaging has sales of around £3bn per year and employs 31,000 staff in 129 locations. It provides plastic, aluminium, paper, paperboard and glass packaging to the food and beverage, pharmaceutical and medical, beauty and tobacco industries. Food and drinks account for almost two-thirds of sales.

The firm has five UK plants providing packaging to a number of blue-chip clients, including PepsiCo, Nestlé and Walkers.

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