Nampak has made significant progress in talks for glass unit sale

11th July 2019 By: Reuters

South African diversified packaging group Nampak has made significant progress in the negotiations to sell its Glass business, it said on Thursday.

Nampak, which operates in 11 African countries as well as Ireland and the UK, began exploratory discussions with a number of strategic players in 2018.

In February, Nampak said following its decision to sell the glass unit, it initiated a "competitive" disposal process, which resulted in the firm entering into an exclusivity arrangement with the preferred bidder. The sale was originally scheduled to be concluded by April 2019.

The preferred bidder was a black South African owned company supported by a large international corporation with significant glass expertise, the firm said at that time.

"The parties are still fully committed to concluding the transaction," Nampak said on Thursday.

In the half-year ended 31 March 2019, glass sales volumes were relatively flat, constrained by production output with trading profit at 89-million rand ($6.40 million) from a loss of 55-million rand.