Amcor Ltd, Antitrust Violation, North Carolina 2009

WASHINGTON – A global packaging company has agreed to divest a North Carolina plant to settle antitrust charges brought by the U.S. government.

Amcor Ltd, an Australia-based company, has agreed to divest the Alcan Packaging Medical Flexibles business’s Marshall, N.C. plant, which manufactures vented bags for medical use. The divestiture is a condition of the company’s acquisition of the Alcan Packaging Medical Flexibles business from Rio Tinto plc, the parent company of Alcan Corporation.

The U.S. government alleged that the acquisition, as originally proposed, would have reduced competition among suppliers of vented bags for medical use, leading to higher prices, lower quality, less favorable supply-chain options, reduced technical support, and less innovation.

The proposed acquisition would have combined Amcor and Alcan Packaging, two of the leading U.S. manufacturers of vented bags for medical use. Vented bags are a type of flexible packaging used to package large or bulky medical items, such as drapes, gowns, and surgery trays and kits.

The government’s complaint alleged that the proposed acquisition would have eliminated the significant competition between Amcor and Alcan Packaging in the already highly concentrated U.S. market for vented bags for medical use.

The proposed settlement requires the companies to divest the Marshall, N.C. plant, which manufactures all of Alcan Packaging’s vented bags for medical use. Amcor Ltd is an Australia-based global packaging company with approximately $7.7 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending in June 2009. That same year, Amcor had approximately $170 million in U.S. sales of flexible packaging for medical use.

Rio Tinto plc, the parent of Alcan Corporation, is a U.K.-based global mining corporation with approximately $44 billion in sales in 2009. The sales of the Alcan Packaging Medical Flexibles business amounted to approximately $115 million in 2009.

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