The packaging industry has, generally speaking, been far more lucrative than the publication and commercial printing segments. While the publication segment has been consolidated down over the years, with Quad Graphics and R.R. Donnelley (itself split up) the two major forces, packaging is still relatively fragmented.
 
It is also a nearly $1 trillion business, according to analysts, and it is growing. It remains a fragmented industry. With the announcement that Amcor plans to acquire Bemis, the industry is due for another shakeup.
 
In the last few years, though, there has been significant consolidation. In one major example, the metal beverage packaging field saw a huge merger back in 2015, when Ball Corporation acquired Rexam PLC.
 
At the time, Ball was the eighth-largest player in the packaging field, with sales of more than $8.5 billion. Rexam was 11th, with sales of $5.6 billion. Today, the company has 17,500 employees at more than 100 locations worldwide and reported net sales of $11 billion in 2017.
 
Also in early 2015, Rock-Tenn Company, then the fifth largest packaging company with sales of $9.9 billion, and MeadWestvaco Corporation, the 14^th largest packaging printer with sales of $5.6 billion, combining their companies, forming WestRock Company, a global leader in consumer and corrugated packaging. In 2017, the company reported net sales of $15 billion.
 
Westrock is also adding to its offering. While the company divested its Home, Health and Beauty business for more than $1 billion in cash, it acquired Multi Packaging Solutions International Ltd., a specialist in folding cartons, inserts, labels and rigid packaging, in early January 2017.  MPS had $1.6 billion in sales during the prior 12-month period.
 
International Paper is still the largest packaging converter, with sales of $22 billion in packaging, pulp and paper products.  In October 2017, International Paper merged its North America Consumer Packaging business into Graphic Packaging. The division had $1.6 billion in annual sales, and International Paper received a share of the partnership.
 
Interestingly, International Paper tried to acquire Smurfit Kappa, another billion dollar packaging specialist, in 2018, but were rebuffed.
 
This brings us back to Amcor and Bemis. The combined consumer packaging specialists had $13 billion in revenue in 2017.
 
Both companies are strong in flexible as well as rigid packaging. Headquartered in Neenah, WI, Bemis reported 2017 net sales of $4 billion, and employs approximately 16,000 individuals worldwide. Amcor reported fiscal year 2017 sales of $9.1 billion and has approximately 35,00 employees.
 
For Amcor, Bemis adds a major presence in the Americas.
 
“Amcor identified flexible packaging in the Americas as a key growth priority and this transaction delivers a step change in that region,” Amcor CEO Ron Delia said.  
 
“The combination of Bemis and Amcor is transformational, bringing together two highly complementary organizations to create a global leader in consumer packaging,” William F. Austen, Bemis’ president and CEO, said.
  
Closing of the transaction is conditional upon the receipt of regulatory approvals, approval by both Amcor and Bemis shareholders, and satisfaction of other customary conditions. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to closing, the transaction is targeted to close in the first quarter of calendar year 2019.
 
Mergers are the fact of life and can have major implications for the ink industry. Time will tell what the impacts will be. Meanwhile, it is another sign that the global packaging business will become less fragmented in the future.