MeadWestvaco Completes AGI Sale

Packaging giant MeadWestvaco said Oct. 1 that it has completed the sale of its global media and entertainment packaging business to Atlas Holdings LLC for $68 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. Included in the sale, which was announced in early September, are the AGI Media, AGI Amaray and AGI PolyMatrix businesses, which together employ some 1,450 people in nine countries worldwide. MeadWestvaco said it would report a pre-tax loss on the sale of about $125 million in the third quarter. The company will report the loss, as well as the operating results of the global media and entertainment business, as part of its third-quarter results on Oct. 27. Announcing the deal last month, Connecticut-based Atlas Holdings said that the acquisition was a fit with its experience in “transitioning divisions of large companies into viable stand-alone companies.” Atlas’s portfolio includes several other consumer packaging companies, as well as investments in the pulp and paper industry.