Bemis announces deal with government on Alcan purchase

NEENAH — Bemis Co. Inc. Wednesday announced it has reached agreement with the Department of Justice that addresses the government’s concerns regarding Bemis’ pending acquisition of the Food Americas operations of Alcan Packaging. The agreement with the Department of Justice requires Bemis to divest certain Alcan Packaging Food Americas packaging assets in the U.S. after the deal closes. Bemis was not specific about what it had to sell off in its Wednesday news release. Bemis said annual net sales associated with the packaging assets that will be sold represent approximately $100 million of annual net sales and include two facilities with production equipment used to produce packaging for fresh meat and retail natural cheese products. Bemis said the agreement was filed with the U.S. Federal District Court in Washington D.C. Bemis will notify investors once the court has approved this agreement. Bemis, which employs about 3,300 people in the Fox Valley, announced in July 2009 it had purchased Alcan Packaging Food Americas for $1.2 billion from Rio Tinto, a global mining company. Alcan has Fox Cities operations, which employ about 1,000 people.