MeadWestvaco (MWV) agreed to sell its European tobacco folding carton business, including three manufacturing units and 680 employees, to AR Packaging Group of Sweden, the US packaging company announced.

Specialising in making and printing hinge-lid boxes, display cartons and high-impact cigarette packaging, MWV said its European operation generates about USD 190 million (EUR 164 million) in annual sales. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Plants in Graz, Austria, Krakow, Poland and Moscow will be turned over to AR Packaging, based in Lund, Sweden, in the next several months, MWV said. A tobacco and confectionary folding business housed in MWV’s plant in Svitavy, Czech Republic, is part of the sales, but MWV said it will retain control of the facility beyond the transition period. MWV makes solid bleached sulfate (SBS) board for global tobacco markets at its mill in Covington, Virginia.
"With this acquisition AR Packaging will be elevated to top three in Europe with a net revenue of approximately 550 million EUR” said Harald Schulz, president and chief executive officer of AR Packaging, in a separate statement. The acquisition will give AR Packaging the opportunity to further strengthen the cooperation with key tobacco customers as well as enhance the strategic position at key accounts in the confectionery and consumer goods segment, the company said.