News and Articles

• Smurfit Westrock agreed to acquire CMPC's Chilean containerboard and corrugated business for $420 million, under 6x post-synergy adjusted EBITDA.
• The deal includes a 250,000-tonne-per-year recycled containerboard mill in Santiago, three corrugated plants, and a molded tray facility.
• Smurfit Westrock will fund the acquisition using its own liquid resources rather than new financing.
• The company plans to integrate the mill into its regional network, enabling kraftliner from Brazil and North America to supply the acquired Chilean corrugated plants.
• Completion is expected in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approval.

A major ownership change is coming to Chile's containerboard and corrugated packaging sector, as Smurfit Westrock has agreed to acquire the Chilean operations of Empresas CMPC for $420 million, a transaction the companies describe as representing less than six times post-synergy adjusted EBITDA.

The deal covers one recycled containerboard mill, complete with a network of fiber collection centers, three corrugated packaging plants, and a molded tray facility. The Santiago paper machine at the center of the acquisition produces approximately 250,000 tonnes annually and sits close to Chile's key fishery and agricultural regions, areas that generate meaningful demand for corrugated packaging.

Smurfit Westrock plans to fund the acquisition entirely from its own liquid resources rather than new debt. The company said the mill will be folded into its broader regional paper system, allowing it to integrate recycled paper into existing operations in Argentina, Peru and Ecuador. At the same time, the deal opens a new route for kraftliner produced at Smurfit Westrock's mills in Brazil and North America to be processed through the newly acquired Chilean corrugated assets, linking supply chains across three continents' worth of production capacity under one corporate roof.

Tony Smurfit, the company's president and CEO, called the opportunity to acquire the business "rare," noting that CMPC had built up the operation over decades and that the deal brings substantial industry expertise into the combined organization. He framed the transaction as both a growth opportunity and an expansion into a market that has shown resilience over time.

For CMPC, the sale represents an exit from a business line it had operated for decades in Chile, while Smurfit Westrock gains what it describes as one of the leading positions in the country's containerboard and corrugated market. The move continues a broader pattern of consolidation in global containerboard markets, where large integrated producers have been acquiring regional assets to build out vertically connected supply networks spanning multiple countries.

Completion of the transaction is expected during the first half of 2027, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval in the relevant jurisdictions. Until that approval is secured, the assets will continue operating under CMPC's ownership.

For buyers of containerboard or corrugated packaging in Chile and the broader Latin American region, the acquisition signals a shift toward greater supplier concentration, as a locally rooted Chilean producer moves under the umbrella of one of the world's largest global packaging companies, with the integration plans suggesting future product sourcing could increasingly draw on Smurfit Westrock's broader North and South American mill network rather than purely domestic Chilean supply.