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Sonoco to Acquire Eviosys, Creating The World’s Leading Metal Food Can and Aerosol Packaging Platform

Hartsville, South Carolina-based Sonoco Products Company (NYSE: SON), a global leader in high-value sustainable packaging, said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Eviosys, Europe’s leading food cans, ends, and closures manufacturer, from KPS Capital Partners, LP for approximately $3.9 billion.

In the June 24, 2024, announcement, officials said the transaction accelerates Sonoco’s strategy to focus on and scale its core businesses and invest in high return opportunities, both organically and inorganically. 

Following the transaction, Sonoco said it will be the leading metal food can and aerosol packaging manufacturer globally.

Officials said both Sonoco’s metal business and Eviosys have meaningful commercial momentum and the transaction facilitates Sonoco’s ability to partner with customers and lead with innovation and sustainability.

Eviosys is a leading global supplier of metal packaging, producing food cans and ends, aerosol cans, metal closures and promotional packaging to preserve the products of hundreds of consumer brands. 

Eviosys has the largest metal food can manufacturing footprint in the EMEA region, with approximately 6,300 employees in 44 manufacturing facilities across 17 countries. 

Sonoco estimates Eviosys’s 2024 revenues will be approximately $2.5 billion and its 2024 adjusted EBITDA will be approximately $430 million. Officials said Eviosys has meaningful commercial and operational momentum and has increased EBITDA by approximately 50 percent since 2021.

Sonoco expects to achieve over $100 million in synergies from the integration of Eviosys with Sonoco’s complementary metal can business. 

Rodger Fuller, Sonoco’s chief operating officer, will lead the integration with a focus on customer and supplier relationships, employee continuity, operational excellence, and synergy realization, while combining the best of Sonoco’s culture with the rich history and heritage of Eviosys.

“The acquisition of Eviosys establishes our global leadership in metal food can and aerosol packaging, marking an exciting milestone in our strategy to scale our core strategic metal packaging platform and position Sonoco for long-term value creation,” said Howard Coker, president and chief executive officer of Sonoco. 

The acquisition of Eviosys builds on the 2022 acquisition of Ball Metalpack and generates another leading position in a core business for Sonoco.

Combining Eviosys’s leading position in EMEA with Sonoco’s existing position in the U.S. expands Sonoco’s total addressable market in metal packaging to approximately $25 billion globally.

Sonoco plans to leverage Eviosys’s highly complementary portfolio to more effectively serve both new and existing customers and accelerate organic growth opportunities in consumer-oriented end markets.

Dogwood State Bank, Community First Bancorporation Merger Receives Regulatory Approvals

Dogwood State Bank (OTC: DSBX) (“Dogwood”) and Community First Bancorporation (OTC: CFOK) (“Community First”), the parent holding company of Community First Bank, Inc. (“Community First Bank”), announced Monday the receipt of all required regulatory approvals to complete the previously announced merger of Community First and Community First Bank with and into Dogwood.

The regulatory approvals follow the approvals from the shareholders of each of Dogwood and Community First.

The parties expect the merger to close on Aug. 1, 2024. Based on financial information as of March 31, 2024, the combined company would have approximately $2.13 billion in assets, $1.66 billion in loans, and $1.80 billion in deposits.

“We are thrilled to announce that we have received all required regulatory approvals for our merger with Community First Bank,” said Steve Jones, CEO of Dogwood.

“These approvals mark a pivotal moment in the Dogwood State Bank journey while also representing a significant milestone in the lives of both organizations. We are confident that this merger allows us the ability to create enhanced value for our combined customers, employees, and shareholders. We are excited about the opportunities ahead and look forward to a successful future together.”

Correction

A headline in the June 21 edition of The Business Narrative incorrectly characterized David Moore & Partners’ work with Charleston boat company Rogue Motion. The headline should have read, “David Moore & Partners Helps Charleston’s Rogue Motion Boat Sales & Storage Obtain Financing.”

Construction Proceeds on Broomsedge Golf Club in South Carolina Sandhills

Broomsedge Golf Club – the latest addition to the flourishing South Carolina golf scene – has reached a major construction milestone as sodding of its golf course begins

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The Broomsedge design and build team, led by co-architects Kyle Franz and Mike Koprowski, has selected Tifway 419 Bermuda grass for the fairways and tees. The greens will be sprigged with another strain of Bermuda, TifEagle, once average temperatures increase in late spring.

The course will not have any maintained rough, as fairways will bleed into native areas containing the club’s namesake broomsedge grass and other flora. Sodding and sprigging of all 18 holes is expected to be completed by August, with the course ready for preview play in October.

“We’re excited to kick off the grow-in phase and begin bringing even more life to the site,” said Mike Koprowski, co-architect and co-owner of Broomsedge.

“This is an important time for the project and we’re fortunate to have club superintendent Shawn Fettig managing the process. He’s the perfect person to ensure we remain on track for our anticipated soft opening this fall, thanks to his extensive professional experience with Bermuda grass at well-known courses across the South, including Old Town Club in Winston-Salem.”

Broomsedge is located in the Sandhills region of the Palmetto State, 30 minutes east of Columbia. The club’s 235-acre site possesses unusually dramatic elevation changes for the Carolina Sandhills. It is made even more distinctive by an assortment of valleys, ridgelines, spines and chasms.

These attributes allowed Franz and Koprowski to move a minimal amount of dirt when fashioning playing corridors and green sites across the course’s intimate 156-acre footprint.

“As new builds have been increasingly focused on maximizing size and scale, ours is a departure from this trend,” said Koprowski. “For example, from the first tee players will be able to see no fewer than 15 different green sites. We’re creating something a bit more scaled down than what’s currently popular in golf design, and reflective of how courses were conceived and routed 100 years ago.”

As golf course construction and grow-in wraps up, master planning for the club’s next phase is well underway and highlighted by the development of onsite lodging.

Well-appointed cottages are expected to be available by Q2 of 2025. They will be built just steps away from the driving range, practice putting green, clubhouse and first tee.

Club details and construction updates are available at broomsedgegolf.com.

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