The US company eyeing a multibillion-pound takeover battle for one of Britain’s biggest packaging companies has said that it would establish a European headquarters in London and seek to list its shares in the City.
International Paper said that if it is successful with a potential bid for DS Smith it would keep the company’s existing headquarters.
It said that “key elements” of the functions at DS Smith’s London office would be maintained, subject to “consultation with impacted employees”.
International Paper would also “seek a secondary listing of its shares on the London Stock Exchange”, it said.
The Memphis-based company had previously said it might be interested in making a £5.7 billion offer for DS Smith, which would be paid in shares. It came after DS Smith already agreed a £5.1 billion deal with London-listed rival Mondi in principle.
The business said that if a deal goes ahead it expects that it could save around 514 million dollars (£407 million) a year within four years.
This would be in part through savings the business can make on freight and the size of its purchases when negotiating deals with suppliers.
It would cost around 370 million dollars (£293 million) to make these savings and would take around four years for them to come into full effect.
“International Paper intends to maintain key elements of DS Smith’s headquarters functions and is proposing to establish a European headquarters in London, United Kingdom, at DS Smith’s existing headquarters (subject to any required information and consultation with any impacted employees and/or their representatives in accordance with applicable law),” the business said.
International Paper’s chief executive-elect, Andy Silvernail, said: “I believe the combination of International Paper and DS Smith would create a winning position in renewable packaging and would be a strong catalyst to drive profitable growth and create value.”