Consumer packaging company Rexam to sell personal care business

British consumer packaging supplier Rexam Plc is selling its personal care operations to two separate buyers for a total of US$709 million.

Sun Capital Partners Inc., a buyout firm in Boca Raton, Fla., and Silgan Holdings Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based producer of packaging products, will purchase different parts of the division, Rexam said in a statement.

A unit of Sun Capital is buying Rexam’s cosmetics, toiletries and household care products business for US$459 million in cash, according to the statement. Also, a unit of Silgan has agreed to buy Rexam’s thermoformed high barrier food packaging business for US$250 million.

The transaction with Silgan is expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2012, and the transaction with Sun Capital in the fourth quarter, according to the statement.

In total, Rexam’s personal care business employs some 7,000 people in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.