Amcor on the move: Zurich beckons?

The rumour mill is swirling over news that Amcor will send 30 jobs from its Melbourne head office to Zurich, Switzerland.

With 95 per cent of its business now carried out overseas since demerging its Australia and New Zealand packaging operations and global distribution business into a new entity called Orora in late 2013, there are plans now afoot to relocate a number of staff and positions over the next 18 months, reducing the size of its Hawthorn-based team from 50 to 20. The remaining 30 staff will reportedly be redeployed or made redundant.

Corporate affairs general manager John Murray told The Herald Sun the move was not motivated by corporate tax issues, as some have suggested – despite the fact Switzerland has a corporate tax rate of 17.9 per cent compared with 30 per cent in Australia.

Murray said Amcor would remain an Australian-listed company and an Australian tax resident, with “no impact or change on the tax implications”.

He said Amcor already had a number of corporate functions located in Zurich that could be carried out more efficiently as a result of the move.

The board will continue as an international group, while chairman Graeme Liebelt will remain in Melbourne.