Weil Gotshal Advises RPC Group on $430 Million Hong Kong Acquisiton

International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges is advising FTSE 250 company RPC Group Plc, one of the world’s leading suppliers of rigid plastic packaging, in its planned acquisition of Hong Kong headquartered ACE Corporation Holdings Limited, for an initial consideration of US$301 million (£178 million) and a total consideration of up to US$430 million (£255 million) on a cash-free, debt-free basis.

RPC develops and manufactures a diverse range of high quality packs for a wide variety of customers, across a large number of market sectors, including for household brands such as Heinz, Nivea and Dulux.

ACE specialises in the manufacture of plastic injection moulded components and injection moulding tools for niche segments within the packaging, lifestyle, medical, power and automotive end markets.

RPC proposes to fund the initial consideration of through the issue of approximately 8.5 million new ordinary shares to the ACE shareholders, the placing to raise approximately £75 million, with the balance funded through a new revolving credit facility arranged alongside the acquisition and existing cash reserves.

A cross-border Weil team from London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing has been advising RPC on the acquisition, the placing and the prospectus/class 1 circular, with London partners Simon Lyell leading on the acquisition and Peter King leading on the placing and prospectus.

The team further comprised London partners Mike Francies and Adam Plainer, tax counsel Oliver Walker, and associates Trina Bose and Tomasz Rodzoch. The team also included corporate partner Steve Xiang in Beijing, corporate partner Peter Feist, and associates William Fong and Daniel Yeh in Hong Kong, and corporate partner Suat Eng Seah and associate Joyce Du in Shanghai.

Group Finance Director of RPC Group Plc, Simon Kesterton commented:

“This acquisition presents a key strategic move into the Asian market for RPC and we are extremely pleased at the support and hard work provided by the Weil teams in London and in Asia to get this deal completed.”

Reed Smith represented the sellers. Simmons & Simmons represented Rothschild as sponsor and Deutsche Bank and Panmure Gordon as joint brokers.