Rio Tinto is to sell its Alcan Packaging Food Americas division to the Bemis Company, a supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive materials, for $1.2bn (£741m).
Based in Chicago, Alcan Packaging Food Americas is a supplier of single- and multi-layer, plain and printed high-barrier plastic films, laminations, pouches, bags, lidstock and thermoformed trays for the food, beverage, meat and dairy industries.
The company has approximately 4,600 employees at 23 locations in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand. It generated $1.5bn in revenue in 2008, 23 per cent of Alcan Packaging's total revenue.
During 2009, Rio Tinto has announced that it is to divest $3.7bn of its assets. It has already sold its interest in the Ningxia aluminium smelter in China for $125m, its potash assets and Brazilian iron-ore operations for $1.6n and its Jacobs Ranch coal mine in the US for $761m.
Other assets that have been identified for sale include the remainder of Alcan Packaging and Alcan Engineered Products.
Completion of the Alcan Packaging Food Americas transaction still remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
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