DS Smith plc is a British multinational packaging business, headquartered in London. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

until it was acquired by International Paper in February 2025.

History

The business was founded by two cousins, David Gabriel Smith and David Solomon Smith in 1940, to manufacture cartons. It was first listed on the

in the late 1950s. In 1986 the company acquired St Regis Paper Company and in 1988 Kemsley Paper Mill, both paper manufacturing businesses. In 1991 the business bought Kaysersberg Packaging, a leading packaging business, and in 1993 it bought Spicers, an office products wholesaler. In 1996 it acquired

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, an envelope manufacturer, and in 2004 it completed the purchase of Linpac Containers, a corrugated packaging manufacturer. The company sold Spicers, its office products wholesaling business, for £200 million, in July 2011 and acquired the packaging division of

Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget () is a Sweden, Swedish wood industry, timber, pulp and paper industry, pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Sundsvall. It has approximately 3,450 employees and a turnover of approximately Swedish krona ...

for a net consideration of approximately €1.6 billion (c. £1.3 billion) in July 2012. It went on to complete the acquisition of Duropack for approximately €300m (c. £220m) in May 2015 and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index in December 2017. In August 2023, it was announced DS Smith had acquired the

Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 56,145 while the city admini ...

-based packaging company, Bosis doo. On 19 February 2024, DS Smith announced a €13 million investment to enhance the production capacity of its Margarethen am Moos and Kalsdorf bei Graz facilities in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

by up to 20%, as part of its growth strategy in Eastern Europe and commitment to the sustainable packaging market. In March 2024, the company's board indicated that it had agreed a takeover offer worth £5.1billion from packaging business,

Mondi Mondi plc is a multinational packaging industry, packaging and paper company, paper group. Group offices are located in Weybridge, England. It has listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of ...

. In April, the company agreed to a larger £5.8 billion ($7.2 billion) all stock deal from the U.S. paper and pulp company, International Paper. The transaction was approved by the court on 30 January 2025, so allowing the takeover to complete.

Operations

DS Smith is a leading provider of sustainable fibre-based packaging in Europe and the United States, with recycling and papermaking operations. The company manufactures packaging that is 100% recyclable, and has sites in 37 countries.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, DS Manufacturing companies established in 1940 Pulp and paper companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange 1940 establishments in England Packaging companies Companies established in 1940 1940 establishments in the United Kingdom 2025 mergers and acquisitions