Glass bottle manufacturer Owens-Illinois Inc. said Monday it has agreed to acquire Nueva Fabrica Nacional de Vidrio S.A. de C.V. from Grupo Modelo, which is a wholly owned affiliate of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Nueva Fanal’s manufacturing facility is near Mexico City and has four glass-making furnaces, which can produce about 300,000 tons of glass containers annually for Grupo Modelo’s brands, including Corona, Modelo Especial, and Pacifico.
Perrysburg-based O-I said the deal is a cash transaction valued at about $188 million, and it is expected to close later this year.
O-I said it expects the business to contribute about $140 million to its annual revenue and $40 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization on an annual basis.
Other incremental savings are anticipated, and O-I will enter into a long-term agreement to supply Grupo Modelo with glass bottles for its brands.
"The acquisition of Nueva Fanal reflects O-I's strategy to invest in the growth of sustainable glass packaging by partnering with our customers to help enable their growth in premium brands, such as Corona, one of the most popular and fastest growing beer brands globally," O-I’s CEO Andres Lopez said.
"This investment is in addition to our recently announced nearly 50 percent acquisition of Empresas Comegua S.A. as well as our plans to expand our Gironcourt, France, glass plant," Mr. Lopez said. "These, along with the investment in the Nueva Fanal glass plant, are examples of the near-term strategic growth opportunities we discussed at our November, 2018, Investor Day and incorporated into our 2019 outlook."
In November O-I spent $119 million to buy a 49.7 percent stake in Panamanian glassmaker Empresas Comegua, which is the leading glass bottle-maker serving the Caribbean and Central American markets. Last month, O-I said it planned to invest $60 million to upgrade and expand the Gironcourt glass plant.
First Published April 1, 2019, 9:15 p.m.
