GERMANY – Global rigid packaging supplier Crown Holdings has completed the acquisition of Helvetia Packaging, a beverage can manufacturing facility in Saarlouis, Saarland, Germany.
The acquisition of the Saarlouis facility will expand Crown’s European beverage can platform to Germany with approximately one billion units of annual can capacity.
At closing, and as part of the agreement, Crown will assume the existing Helvetia customer base and accompanying contracts.
The unmatched sustainability benefits and infinite recyclability of aluminum has led to an increasing preference for beverage cans to serve both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks segments.
Timothy J. Donahue, chairman, President, and CEO at Crown said: “We look forward to welcoming the employees of the Saarlouis facility to the Crown family as we extend our European beverage can network to Germany to better serve the needs of local and regional customers.”
The transaction is subject to approval by German anti-trust authorities and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. The Saarlouis plant will remain operational throughout the review period.
The companies have not disclosed the financial terms of this transaction; however, Crown confirmed that the impact of this pending acquisition would be ‘negligible’ on its net leverage.
This deal comes a month after Crown announced the achievement of its Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifications within the Asia-Pacific region.
This expansion comes as part of the company’s commitments highlighted in its ‘Twentyby30’ sustainability program that aims to help in advancing responsible supply chains.
According to Crown, the ASI Performance Standard addressed environmental, social and governance principles for the aluminum value chain, confirming the recipient’s production practices are responsible.
Crown said that it has already achieved the ASI Performance Standard certification for its existing operations in Brazil and Mexico.
It has now received that same certification for its Nong Khae and Crown TCP beverage packaging plants in Thailand.
Meanwhile, in May, the company partnered with Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) to fund a new grant opportunity as part of their continuing support of activities to spur the installation of aluminum can capture equipment in material recovery facilities (MRFs).
According to a news release from the Washington-based Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), The Recycling Partnership, Washington, is collaborating with CMI to present these new grants.
CMI says it cannot publicly share the exact amount of funding available from Ardagh and Crown Holdings.
Grants will be awarded on a rolling basis, as The Recycling Partnership works with prospective grant recipients to understand their project timelines.
The Recycling Partnership issues the grants at the time they are needed to catalyze the investment and upgrades.
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