Smurfit Kappa Group agreed on the terms of a merger with WestRock just a week after disclosing talks to combine. The deal will create a packaging behemoth that provides everything from corrugated storage boxes to beer carriers and e-commerce shipping materials.
(Bloomberg) — Smurfit Kappa Group agreed on the terms of a merger with WestRock just a week after disclosing talks to combine. The deal will create a packaging behemoth that provides everything from corrugated storage boxes to beer carriers and e-commerce shipping materials.
Key Business News
Smurfit Kappa Group Plc: WestRock shareholders will receive one new Smurfit WestRock share and $5 in cash for each share of common stock of WestRock, according to a filing.
- The merged company will be domiciled in Ireland and listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a standard listing on the London Stock Exchange, and intends to seek US equity index inclusion as soon as possible
- Smurfit Kappa and WestRock stockholders are expected to own about 50.4% and 49.6% of Smurfit WestRock, respectively
Associated British Foods Plc: The company raised its forecast for this year slightly and said its sugar and Primark clothing-retail divisions should be even more profitable next year despite a challenging business environment globally.
Labour Market: UK wage growth held at a record high in the three months through July, a sign of persistent inflation that will keep pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates again.
What’s Next?
CAB Payments Holdings — one of the rare additions to the London Stock Exchange this year — is due to report its first results as a listed company tomorrow. The transaction processor’s shares are trading more than 20% below the IPO price, which will have investors scrutinising the statement for any upside potential to the stock.
The Big Read
Burford Capital’s share of the $16 billion a US judge in New York ordered Argentina to pay over its 2012 seizure of oil company YPF SA is around $6.2 billion, which would give the London-listed litigation funder a more than 37,000% return on its initial investment and could outshine even the $2.4 billion Paul Singer’s Elliott Management made by suing Argentina over its 2001 sovereign debt default. Whether Burford — launched in 2009 with backing from Neil Woodford and his former fund Invesco — gets that money remains to be seen.
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