Until February 8th, Amcor had been in the process of acquiring some of the assets of PET pioneer company, Constar International Holdings LLC. But it was not successful in acquiring the North American assets on wich it had set its sights.
Constar goes back to the 1960s and developed the two litre PET soda bottle in the 1980s.
Constar has been working its way through a tough financial period. It makes plastic food and drink containers at nine plants in the United States and Europe, but its problems were renewed at the end of 2012 when it lost an important contract with PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N). In December 2013, the privately held company filed its third bankruptcy in five years. It had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008 and 2011 also. The company has indicated that it has assets of US$50 million to US$100 million and liabilities of US$100 million to US$500 million. There are between 200 and 999 creditors.
In its statement confirming the deal to acquire Constar assets, Amcor noted, “The US business currently operates six plants with annualised sales of approximately US$190 million and has an attractive fit with Amcor Rigid Plastics.”
According to the papers filed in the US Bankruptcy Court in Washington, Delaware the company hopes to sell its US business to Amcor for US$68.5 million before it runs out of money. Final acquisition pricing will be released at the conclusion of the bankruptcy process.
