Exhibit 99.1
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News
For Immediate Release SILGAN HOLDINGS INC.
4 Landmark Square
Suite 400
Stamford, CT 06901
Telephone: (203) 975-7110
Fax: (203) 975-7902
Contact:
Anthony J. Allott
(203) 975-7110
SILGAN HOLDINGS ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE
REMAINING INTEREST IN THE AMCOR WHITE CAP JOINT
VENTURE
STAMFORD, CT, January 2, 2003 -- Silgan Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:SLGN) today
announced that it had agreed to acquire from Amcor White Cap Inc. the remaining
65 percent equity interest in Amcor White Cap LLC, the metal and plastic closure
joint venture of the Company. The purchase price for the equity and outstanding
debt obligations of the joint venture will total approximately $125 million.
Under the joint venture agreement, the transaction must be completed by early
April and will result in a name change for the business.
White Cap is a leading supplier of an extensive range of metal and plastic
closures to consumer goods packaging companies in the food and beverage
industries in North America. The business, which is expected to have net sales
of approximately $250 million in 2002, is headquartered in Chicago and presently
operates 7 manufacturing facilities. Manufacturing facilities are located in
Athens, Georgia; Champaign, Illinois; Hazelton, Pennsylvania; Evansville,
Indiana; Richmond, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; and Mexico. The Company will
operate the business as part of its metal food container business due to
similarities in end-use markets. Both businesses sell to consumer goods
packaging companies in the food and beverage industries.
The White Cap joint venture was originally formed in July 2001, when the Company
contributed certain metal closure assets and liabilities in return for $32.4
million in cash and a 35 percent
(more)
SILGAN HOLDINGS
January 2, 2003
Page 2
interest in the joint venture. Net sales for the facilities contributed by the
Company totaled approximately $91 million in 2000. Schmalbach-Lubeca AG (the
original joint venture partner whose interest was purchased by Amcor)
contributed the remaining metal and plastic operations. As part of the
integration of the contributed businesses, the joint venture instituted a
program to rationalize the metal closure facilities. This program is well under
way and is expected to result in significant cost savings starting in 2003. The
business is expected to be accretive to Silgan's earnings starting in 2003, as
compared to equity in losses of the joint venture for the first three quarters
of 2002 of $.09 per diluted share.
Under the terms of the joint venture formation agreements, Amcor and any of its
affiliates are prohibited from the manufacture or sale of metal, plastic and
composite vacuum closures and certain other metal and plastic closures in the
North American food and beverage markets until July 2006. Substantially all of
the sales of the White Cap business that the Company will acquire are from these
types of products or into these markets.
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Silgan Holdings is a leading North American manufacturer of consumer goods
packaging products with annual sales of approximately $1.9 billion in 2001.
Silgan operates 59 manufacturing facilities in the U.S and Canada where it is
the largest supplier of metal containers for food products and a leading
supplier of plastic containers for personal care products.
Statements included in this press release which are not historical facts are
forward looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934. Such forward looking statements are made based upon management's
expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and
therefore involve a number of uncertainties and risks, including, but not
limited to, those described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2001
and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result, the
actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company could differ
materially from those expressed or implied in such forward looking statements.
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