Bemis Company Inc. has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Food Americas operations of Alcan Packaging for $1.2 billion. Under the agreement, Bemis will gain 23 flexible packaging facilities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand. The plants produce flexible packaging for the food and beverage industries.

With the transaction, Bemis expects the percentage of net sales to the food packaging space to increase from 57% to nearly 70% of total Bemis net sales. The transaction also will add 4,600 employees to Bemis’ global workforce for a total of over 20,000 employees at 84 manufacturing locations worldwide.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2009, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory review.