According to M. Jack Sanders, Sonoco president and CEO, "We are extremely excited to welcome Weidenhammer's leadership team and its 1,100 associates into the Sonoco family. The acquisition creates a global leader in rigid paper packaging and is expected to increase Sonoco's combined global consumer-related packaging and services business to approximately $2.8 billion in annual sales or approximately 53 percent of the Company's combined revenue of approximately $5.4 billion. In addition, the combination is expected to increase Sonoco's net sales in Europe to approximately 21 percent of total sales."
To finance the transaction, Sonoco entered into a credit agreement for a new $600 million bank credit facility earlier in October. Included in that facility is a new $350 million, five-year revolving credit facility, which replaces an existing credit facility under substantially the same terms. The $350 million revolving credit facility is being used to support an identically sized commercial paper program. Also included in the credit agreement is a new $250 million three-year term loan which was used to fund the acquisition.
Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services.