Atlanta-based WestRock Merges With Smurfit Kappa, Unveils New Ticker Symbol

Credit: Courtesy of Smurfit Westrock

Credit: Courtesy of Smurfit Westrock

Mergers are nothing new for WestRock, a corrugated packaging company that makes products ranging from pizza boxes to ice cream cartons to medicine containers. The Fortune 500 company is the result of a 2015 merger between MeadWestvaco and RockTenn.

Smurfit Kappa, which dates back to 1934, is also the result of a merger. Jefferson Smurfit, a manufacturer of cardboard boxes and packaging materials for the Irish market, merged with Dutch rival Kappa Packaging in 2005. Smurfit Kappa was nearly acquired by International Paper in 2018 for €8.9 billion, but the deal fell through.

Tony Smurfit, CEO of Smurfit Westrock, said the merger of the two packaging giants would extend their reach to 40 countries and support more than 100,000 employees.

“The merger of Smurfit Kappa and WestRock creates a global leader in sustainable packaging, bringing together the considerable experience and expertise of both companies,” Tony Smurfit, CEO of Smurfit Westrock, said in a press release. “We believe this combination has created the leader and partner of choice in sustainable packaging.”

Georgia is one of the largest logistics hubs in the United States, with the world’s busiest airport, several coastal ports and several Fortune 500 companies in the shipping, trucking and packaging industries. Packaging companies in the Atlanta metro area include UPS, Graphic Packaging and Veritiv, which announced last year that it was acquired by a private equity firm in a $2.3 billion deal.