Bemis Company, Inc. announced on August 1, 2011 that it had acquired Mayor Packaging, a privately owned manufacturer of consumer and specialty flexible packaging headquartered in Hong Kong with a manufacturing facility in Dongguan, China. Financial terms were not disclosed at announcement, though subsequent SEC filings cited a purchase price of approximately $93 million at closing, later adjusted to roughly $96.7 million.
CEO Henry Theisen stated that the high-barrier flexible packaging operation in Dongguan was a state-of-the-art facility serving food and consumer product companies around the world. The acquisition complemented Bemis's existing Asia-Pacific capabilities with an experienced management team and workforce, providing what Theisen described as a strong platform for regional expansion.
The transaction was financed with commercial paper and was subject to customary post-closing adjustments. Bemis indicated the deal would not impact its 2011 earnings-per-share guidance, reflecting integration planning that treated the acquisition as a strategic capacity addition rather than a near-term earnings event.
For converters evaluating export partnerships or toll relationships in China, the deal underscored how multinational flexible packaging groups were building owned capacity in Guangdong Province to serve barrier film, lamination, and pouch programs for global brand owners requiring audited food-contact production.
The Mayor Packaging acquisition arrived alongside broader Western packaging investment in China during 2011, as rising domestic consumption and export-oriented food packaging demand pulled capital toward established manufacturing clusters in Dongguan and neighboring Pearl River Delta locations.