Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Packaging Business Sold

By George C. Ford, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Feb. 2–CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Evergreen Packaging Equipment in Cedar Rapids has been sold by International Paper Co. to a New Zealand firm.

Carter Holt Harvey Ltd., a wood and paper products manufacturer, acquired Evergreen Packaging Equipment, 2400 Sixth St. SW, in a transaction that also includes all of International Paper’s North American beverage packaging operations.

The sale, valued at $413million, was completed Wednesday.

The North American beverage packaging business has about 3,000 employees and recorded net sales of $860 million in 2005.

International Paper’s North American beverage packaging assets include gable-top beverage converting facilities in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ontario and Quebec; the Evergreen plant in Cedar Rapids; and a mill in Pine Bluff, Ark.

The beverage packaging business also includes wholly owned subsidiaries in China, South Korea and Taiwan and joint ventures in Latin America, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The sale of those assets to Carter Holt Harvey is expected to close later in the first quarter, at which time Inter national Paper will receive the remainder of the proceeds from the $500 million transaction.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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