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Amcor quits White Cap joint venture
By Geoff Hiscock
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australian packaging group Amcor Ltd. is quitting one of its North American joint ventures to focus on its ties in the U.S. with the Europe-based Bericap Group. Amcor said Friday it will sell its 65 percent stake in Amcor White Cap LLC to its joint venture partner, Connecticut-based Silgan Holdings, for Aust. $66 million ($37.1 million). The deal covers Amcor's North American white cap closure operations at seven plants -- six in the United States and one in Mexico. Amcor said the price represented book value. The joint venture also has debts of about A$156 million ($88 million). Silgan, which makes consumer goods packaging products, has 59 plants in the U.S. and Canada. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Amcor said Friday it would continue to develop its business in the North American plastic closures market through another joint venture partner, the Europe-based Bericap Group. Strategic decision"Strategically, it was important to resolve the position of the (Amcor White Cap) joint venture and move forward in North America with either 100 percent ownership of the closures operation or to sell out completely," Amcor managing director Russell Jones said. He said Bericap was a world leader in plastic closures and its "solid platform" in North America could be expanded further. Amcor, which has global sales of about $6 billion, is trading about 1 percent higher at A$8.66 on the ASX Friday afternoon. Last month, Amcor announced it was restructuring its debt through a $500 million private placement to U.S.-based institutions. It said on December 18 the placement was done at an average interest rate of 5.8 percent and an average duration of 11.5 years. Following the placement, Amcor said its average maturity for non-current debt would go from three years to about six years.
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