Bemis Company announced July 13, 2010, that it completed the sale of assets and liabilities associated with its Menasha, Wisconsin, and Tulsa (Catoosa), Oklahoma, flexible packaging facilities to Exopack Holding Corp., an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. The purchase price was approximately $82 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments, following a definitive agreement signed June 14, 2010, valued at about $81 million.
The divestiture fulfilled U.S. Department of Justice requirements under the Hold Separate Stipulation and Order entered February 25, 2010, as a condition of approving Bemis's acquisition of Alcan Packaging Food Americas from Rio Tinto plc. The sold operations focused on plastic packaging for retail natural cheese and shrink bags for fresh red meat—product lines cited in the government's February 24, 2010, Clayton Act complaint alleging the merger would substantially lessen competition in North America.
Exopack chairman and CEO Jack Knott stated the purchase would expand capabilities and strengthen the Exopack brand globally. Transaction terms included production equipment and intellectual property tied to the divested product lines. Regulatory approval followed months of parallel integration work across Bemis's remaining 21 acquired Food Americas plants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and New Zealand.
For flexible packaging converters not involved in the transaction, the divestiture preserved competitive supply options for U.S. cheese and meat packaging buyers who feared post-merger concentration. Exopack gained scale in segments where Bemis-Alcan combined share had triggered antitrust remedy thresholds above $100 million in annual sales.
The July closing marked the final major regulatory milestone for Bemis's $1.2 billion Food Americas integration—allowing corporate focus on harmonizing print technologies, resin contracts, and customer qualifications across the enlarged platform without court-imposed hold-separate operating constraints on the Wisconsin and Oklahoma assets.