Philip Morris International intends to delist Swedish Match from the stock market now that it controls enough of the company to trigger a mandatory redemption of remaining shares, Reuters reports.
“We are delighted to have obtained over 90 percent ownership of Swedish Match, allowing us to initiate a minority redemption process to acquire the remaining shares outstanding and request the delisting of the company from the stock market,” PMI CEO Jacek Olczak said in a statement.
“This transaction marks a major milestone in accelerating our shared objective of a smoke-free future. We look forward to welcoming Swedish Match’s employees and leading oral nicotine portfolio into the PMI family to create a global smoke-free champion, notably bringing IQOS and Zyn together in both the U.S. and international markets.
“We are very excited about the growth, value creation and progress in tobacco harm reduction that we believe can be achieved together over the coming years. Despite the increased cost of financing over recent months, we expect the combination to be low single-digit accretive to PMI’s adjusted diluted EPS in 2023, before potential revenue synergies and excluding transaction-related and one-off costs and the amortization of acquired intangibles.”
The acquisition of Swedish Match, which produces a variety of popular smoke-free nicotine products, will assist PMI in achieving its stated goal of moving away from traditional cigarettes.