Deal: MinterEllison has advised Bemis on its cross-border merger with Amcor.

Value: US$5.26 billion

Area: Manufacture, M&A

Key players: MinterEllison’s team was led by partner Michael Gajic with support from senior legal counsel Leigh Brown, partner James Momsen and senior associate Jeremy Chew.

Deal significance: Founded in 1858, Bemis is a supplier of flexible and rigid plastic packaging used by leading food, consumer products, and healthcare companies. Last year, the company reported sales of US$4 billion.

Amcor is a global player in responsible packaging solutions and supplies rigid and flexible packaging products to food, beverage, healthcare, personal care and other consumer end markets. It operates in over 40 countries with approximately 35,000 employees.

The boards of directors from both companies have unanimously approved a definitive agreement to merge Amcor and Bemis in an all-stock combination which will be dual listed on NYSE and ASX, and making the merger a $25 billion global packaging industry leader.

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The transaction aims to create value for shareholders of both companies, but is subject to shareholder, court and regulatory approval. The merger is targeted to close in the first quarter of 2019.

MinterEllison advised Bemis on the complexities of a multistep transaction involving an Australian scheme of arrangement, including re-domiciliation, US merger and dual listing of the merged group.

Acknowledging the size of the transaction, MinterEllison’s Michael Gajic said “our M&A team leveraged its established and proven knowledge to navigate cross-border aspects of transaction, including the interplay between the Australian law scheme of arrangement and the US law merger.”