Smurfit Kappa gets the nod from regulators to complete WestRock merger

Smurfit Kappa said it has secured all necessary regulatory approvals to proceed with its merger with US cardboard box-making peer WestRock next week.

The $25 billion-plus (€23.4 billion) tie-up, being carried out by a so-called scheme of arrangement, requires Irish High Court approval at a hearing due to take place on Tuesday.

Trading in Smurfit Kappa’s stock in Dublin will also cease at the close of business on Tuesday.

Shares in the new entity, Smurfit WestRock, will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday and will immediately join key US stock indices, including the S&P 500, the most widely-followed equities index in the world. The compan\\\y will also retain a secondary listing in London.

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The WestRock deal is essentially a takeover by Smurfit Kappa that will see its shareholders own 50.4 per cent of the enlarged group, which will remain headquartered in Dublin. Smurfit Kappa chief executive Tony Smurfit and its chief financial officer, Ken Bowles, will run the new group.

[ Smurfit Kappa shares jump on news of S&P 500 inclusion after merger ]

The outlook for the industry has improved significantly from when the merger agreement was announced last September. At the time, box-makers were dealing with a slump in demand that followed a global spike in spending on physical goods, from TVs to patio furniture, during pandemic lockdowns.

It has also been helped by consolidation elsewhere in the sector, with US-based International Paper, which made an unwanted bid for Smurfit Kappa in 2018, agreeing in April to acquire DS Smith in the UK.

Shares in Smurfit Kappa have risen almost 39 per cent in the past 12 months.

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