Companies

Tony Smurfit: Merger with WestRock will help us be loved

Tony Smurfit says newly merged entity will be biggest paper and packaging group in the world ‘by a factor’

Merger between Smurfit Kappa and WestRock will create a new entity worth nearly $20bn. Picture: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

The merger deal agreed between Smurfit Kappa and WestRock, which will create the world’s biggest paper and packaging group, will close a “very big gap” in the Irish company’s portfolio by giving it access to the US market, Tony Smurfit has said.

The chief executive of Smurfit Kappa said the deal announced this morning, which will establish a group called Smurfit WestRock worth nearly $20 billion, would be “fantastic” for shareholders “in the long term, ...