Packaging entrepreneurs Dermot Smurfit and Michael Smurfit have led the takeover of a New Zealand paper mill for an undisclosed price, saving the plant from closure and preserving 170 jobs. We’ll be looking to increase that by 50,000 to 60,000 in due course,” said Mr Smurfit (76), adding that the consortium could seek in three to four years to float the business in New Zealand or London. Mr Smurfit said that the hope was that the investment would emulate the Smurfit brothers’ successful involvement in Powerflute, a once-distressed Finnish paper mill where they led a takeover in 2005. Demand for cardboard is rising globally as product manufacturers shift from plastic to more sustainable packaging, a trend that has been turbo-charged during the Covid-19 pandemic. The growing role of e-commerce is also helping parts of the industry, including Dublin-listed Smurfit Kappa, the international paper packaging giant founded by the Smurfit brothers’ father and currently run by Michael Smurfit’s son, Tony Smufit.

Source: The Irish Times June 04, 2021 03:55 UTC