GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Imperial Tobacco Group PLC has announced that it has selected Greensboro, N.C., as the location of the new company it is forming from its existing business in the United States and the announced acquisition of brands and assets resulting from the Reynolds American Inc. and Lorillard Inc. transaction.
The transaction is subject to approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the companies' respective shareholders.
Reynolds will be taking the Newport, Kent, True and Old Gold Brands from Lorillard and integrating them into their organization. Imperial Tobacco will be acquiring the Kool, Salem and Winston cigarette brands from Reynolds and blu eCigs and Maverick cigarettes from Lorillard. Imperial Tobacco will also be acquiring Lorillard assets including its manufacturing and R&D facilities and our corporate headquarters in Greensboro, along with Lorillard's tobacco receiving and storage facilities in Danville, Va. blu eCigs will continue to be based in Charlotte, N.C.
The acquisition will make Imperial Tobacco the third largest tobacco company in the United States, with a 10% share of the cigarette market.
Following consummation of the acquired brands and assets, the new company will be based at Lorillard's current headquarters in Greensboro. The headquarters will be home to former Lorillard employees and a number of Commonwealth-Altadis employees who will relocate from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Imperial Tobacco also has a number of employees at its factory in Reidsville, N.C.
"It makes the most sense to make the headquarters of the new company in Greensboro, in a building we will own outright when the transaction is completed," the company said in a statement. "This wonderful facility is in the heart of tobacco country, near our factories and has the infrastructure to accommodate the enlarged business. We are discussing relocation with our employees in Fort Lauderdale, and when we are in a position to give further updates on the transaction, we will."
In a business and merger update memorandum filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Lorillard CEO Murray Kessler said, "Recall that I also stated at the time of the announcement that I believed that the vast majority of Lorillard employees would retain their jobs--either by joining Reynolds or Imperial--and that belief was supported by statements from both Reynolds and Imperial and the merger agreement itself. Importantly, it is also being supported by the actions of the integration teams."
He continued, "Integration teams were formed in early September with members of Imperial Tobacco/Commonwealth-Altadis and Lorillard. … [T]hese teams have begun the work to ensure the new company formed through the divested process has begun and our work is ongoing in assisting the regulatory agencies to conduct their evaluation and to reach a conclusion in their anti-trust review process. These two initiatives have added an incremental burden on many of our employees and make our strong third-quarter performance even more remarkable."
He concluded, "Additionally, it was announced that Imperial's new brands to be transferred from Reynolds--Winston, Salem and Kool--will convert to Lorillard's financial and IT platforms. After the transaction is completed, the new company will also use Lorillard's sales and technical platforms, and Commonwealth-Altadis' brands will be migrated to these Lorillard platforms shortly thereafter."
Commonwealth-Altadis Inc. is a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Imperial Tobacco company providing sales and distribution services to Commonwealth Brands Inc. and Altadis USA Inc. The combined Commonwealth Brands and Altadis USA portfolio includes cigarette and cigar brands including Montclair, USA Gold, Sonoma, Dutch Masters, Backwoods and Phillies.
Bristol, England-based Imperial Tobacco is a multi-national tobacco company with brands including Davidoff cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobaccos; West and Gauloises Blondes cigarettes; Montecristo cigars; Golden Virginia hand rolling tobacco; Drum fine-cut tobacco; Rizla rolling papers; and the Puritane e-cigarette brand.It operates in more than 160 markets.
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