Smurfit Westrock plc is an Irish-American company based in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland that manufactures corrugated and paper-based packaging. Its stock is listed on the

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and the

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History

The company was established as a box-maker in the

Rathmines Rathmines (; ) is an inner suburb on the Southside (Dublin), Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal of Ireland, Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to the south, Ranela ...

area of Dublin, Ireland in 1934 and was acquired by Mr Jefferson Smurfit in 1938, trading afterwards as Jefferson Smurfit. It was listed on the

Irish Stock Exchange Euronext Dublin (formerly the Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793. The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European gateway exchange for companies seek ...

in 1964 and acquired a partial interest in Time Industries, a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-based paper and packaging company, in 1974. Jefferson Smurfit grew under the leadership of the founder's son, Sir Michael Smurfit, who became

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

in 1977. It merged its 46%-owned US business with

-based Stone Container Corporation to form Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation in 1998. Jefferson Smurfit was the subject of a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

financed by

Madison Dearborn Partners Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts of privately held or publicly traded companies, or divisions of larger companies; recapitalizations of family-owned or closely held companies; ba ...

Cinven Cinven Limited is a global private equity firm founded in 1977, with offices in nine international locations in Guernsey, London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Luxembourg, Madrid, and Hong Kong that acquires Europe and United States–bas ...

Limited and

CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners plc is a Jersey-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately €186 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, European, ...

in 2002. It merged with in 2005, changing its name to Smurfit Kappa, and was the subject of an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in 2007. In 2012 it bought Orange County Container, a US-based packaging company, for $340 million. In 2016 it acquired two Brazilian Companies for €186 million. In September 2023, it was announced that Smurfit Kappa and the

Sandy Springs, Georgia Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and a suburb of Atlanta. The city's population was 108,080 at the 2020 census, making it Georgia's 7th most populous city. It is the site of several corporate headquar ...

-headquartered corrugated packaging company, WestRock had agreed to merge, to create one of the world's largest paper and packaging producers. It was confirmed in the circular and prospectus that the transaction will be conducted by Smurfit Kappa acquiring WestRock and then changing its name to Smurfit Westrock, and that the Smurfit Kappa Group shareholders and board would represent the majority of the combined entity. The transaction completed on 5 July 2024.

Operations

The company specialises in manufacturing paper-based packaging, with a network of paper, recycling and forestry operations. It is an integrated producer, with packaging plants sourcing the major part of their raw material requirements from the company's own paper mills. In turn, the sourcing of recovered fibre and wood for the mills is managed through a combination of reclamation and forestry operations and purchases from third parties. It operates across 35 countries – 22 in Europe, 13 in the Americas. Its global headquarters are in Dublin, with regional headquarters in Amsterdam and Miami. The company also operates a publishing division aimed at the educational sector in Ireland through its subsidiary, the Educational Company of Ireland, more commonly known as Edco. It distributes textbooks for primary and post-primary education, exam papers, revision books and resources for the Irish Curriculum.

References

External links

* {{Finance links , name = Smurfit Westrock (New York Shares) , symbol = SW , reuters = SW.N , bloomberg = SW:US , sec_cik = 2005951 , yahoo = SW , google = SW:NYSE Multinational companies headquartered in the Republic of Ireland Pulp and paper companies of the Republic of Ireland Packaging companies of Ireland Manufacturing companies established in 1934 Irish brands 1934 establishments in Ireland Recycling organizations Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange