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Richmond, Virginia (November 17, 2010) - MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV) announced today a significant investment to grow its corrugated packaging business in the attractive Brazilian market.
MWV will expand operations at Rigesa, the company's Brazilian subsidiary, in order to meet growing customer demand for high-quality packaging solutions. The company will invest approximately $480 million to develop its existing facility located in Santa Catarina State, including the installation of a new, state-of-the-art paperboard machine that will double the capacity of its Três Barras mill.
"The strategic decision to expand our Rigesa business signifies our strong commitment to continued growth and market leadership in Brazil," said John A. Luke, Jr., chairman and CEO of MWV. "Our experience, knowledge-base and existing infrastructure in Brazil – along with the country's emergence as an economic powerhouse – make further investment in our business there very logical and attractive. We are confident that it will be a tremendous source of value for our shareholders and continue to be a longterm competitive advantage for MWV."
With this growth initiative, MWV significantly strengthens its Rigesa operations as a fully integrated packaging solutions company. Rigesa will further leverage its sustainable forestry, mill and converting operations as well as consumer insights, design and engineering, to produce specialized corrugated packaging solutions for high growth markets in South America. Construction and installation of the new machine is expected to be complete in mid-2012. The new machine will produce 300,000 metric tons per year of kraft linerboard for use in the company's packaging converting operations throughout Brazil.
The investment will be funded through a combination of internal and external sources. When the mill is fully operational, the company expects to employ approximately 800 people. MWV has served the Brazilian market with Rigesa since 1953 and currently employs over 2,500 people in Brazil.
Conference Call
Investors may participate in the live conference call today at 10:00 EST by dialing 1 (800) 288-8967 (toll-free domestic) or 1 (612) 332-0430 (international); passcode: MeadWestvaco. Please call to register at least 10 minutes before the conference call begins. The live conference call and presentation slides may be accessed on MWV's website at www.mwv.com. After connecting to the home page, go to the Investors page and look for the link to the webcast. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will be available for one month via the telephone starting at 12:00 p.m. EST on November 17, and can be accessed at 1 (800) 475-6701 (toll-free domestic) or 1 (320) 365-3844 (international); access code: 178633.
About MWV
MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV), provides packaging solutions to many of the world's most admired brands in the healthcare, beauty and personal care, food, beverage, home and garden, tobacco, and commercial print industries. The company's businesses also include Consumer & Office Products, Specialty Chemicals, and the Community Development and Land Management Group, which sustainably manages the company's land holdings to support its operations, and to provide for conservation, recreation and development opportunities. With 19,000 employees worldwide, MWV operates in 30 countries and serves customers in more than 100 nations. MWV manages all of its forestlands in accordance with internationally recognized forest certification standards, and has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the seventh consecutive year. For more information, please visit www.mwv.com.
About Rigesa
Rigesa, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MWV, supplies packaging solutions in the food, cleaning, cosmetics, health, chemicals and electronic markets. Rigesa operates two paper mills, four corrugated packaging plants, one consumer packaging plant, and owns 54 thousand hectares of forestry certified by Cerflor – Brazilian Program of Forestry Certification.
Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this document and elsewhere by management of the company that are neither reported financial results nor other historical information are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such information includes, without limitation, the business outlook, assessment of market conditions, anticipated financial and operating results, strategies, future plans, contingencies and contemplated transactions of the company. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause or contribute to actual results of company operations, or the performance or achievements of each company, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In addition to any such risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed elsewhere herein, risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause or contribute to actual results differing materially from those expressed or implied for the forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, events or circumstances which affect the ability of MeadWestvaco to realize improvements in operating earnings from the company's ongoing cost reduction initiatives; the ability of MeadWestvaco to close announced and pending transactions, including divestitures; the reorganization of the company's packaging business units; competitive pricing for the company's products; impact from inflation on raw materials, energy and other costs; fluctuations in demand and changes in production capacities; relative growth or decline in the United States and international economies; government policies and regulations, including, but not limited to those affecting the environment, climate change, tax policies and the tobacco industry; the company's continued ability to reach agreement with its unionized employees on collective bargaining agreements; the company's ability to execute its plans to divest or otherwise realize the greater value associated with its land holdings; adverse results in current or future litigation; currency movements; volatility and further deterioration of the capital markets; and other risk factors discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, and in other filings made from time to time with the SEC. MeadWestvaco undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investors are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures made on related subjects in the company's reports filed with the SEC.
Source: WorldPressOnline
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