Rexam plc has snapped up all the shares in Nacanco GmbH and has procured the repayment of the investor loan notes in Nacanco GmbH in Gelsen-kirchen, Germany from a private investor group.
The transaction has been cleared by both the European Commission and the German competition authorities.
Rexam divested the Gelsen-kirchen plant in January 2002 in compliance with European regulatory requirements following its acquisition of American National Can.
Part of the consideration for that transaction [EUR60M] was financed by loans from Rexam. The loans currently outstanding amount to EUR50M and these will become internal to the Rexam group.
The subsequent structural change in the German beverage packaging market and the turbulence created since the introduction of a deposit on all one way beverage packaging at the start of 2003, has changed the circumstances under which the European Commission originally obliged Rexam to divest the plant.
This strategic move will strengthen Rexam's central European can making operation and enable it to optimise its network configuration through improved production planning and greater flexibility.
This, in turn, will provide the potential for operational savings and the opportunity to increase further Rexam's service to customers as the German market recovers.
