The MeadWestvaco building will continue to be the company’s headquarters after its merger with Rock-Tenn. Photo by Jonathan Spiers.
A new name could be dotting Richmond’s cityscape come summer.
MeadWestvaco, the local packaging giant that is in the process of merging with Georgia-based Rock-Tenn Co., announced Monday the combined company’s new name: WestRock Co.
The announcement means the letters that have branded MWV’s downtown headquarters building since 2010 – and served as its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange – will be a thing of the past.
Rock-Tenn’s ticker symbol, RKT, will likewise be replaced with the combined company’s new symbol: WRK.
Rock-Tenn CEO Steve Voorhees, who will lead WestRock in the same position, described the name as drawing on “the strongest elements” from each company’s legacy names.
“The name speaks to our determination to build on the long track record of success and growth that has been established by both companies,” Voorhees said in Monday’s announcement.
The company became MeadWestvaco in 2002 when the Mead Corp. and Westvaco were merged. It relocated its headquarters to Richmond in 2006.
MWV CEO John Luke Jr. will become a non-executive chairman of the combined WestRock, marking the first time in the history of MWV’s various iterations that a member of the Luke family is not a top executive.
MWV spokesman Tucker McNeil said the new name will be used to set up the legal elements of WestRock as it moves toward closing the merger by the end of the second quarter.
“We’ll start using WestRock at that point, which is when we will also have other changes and more to share about the combined company and the new name/identity,” McNeil said in an email.
The companies announced in January a marriage that is expected to create a packaging colossus with a combined $15.7 billion in annual revenue. The companies have said the merged firm would be headquartered in MWV’s riverfront tower at 501 S. Fifth St.
The stock-for-stock deal will give MWV shareholders control of about 51 percent of the combined company and Rock-Tenn stockholders control of the remaining 49 percent. Should the merger close as expected, Richmond would then be home to the country’s second-largest packaging company, behind only International Paper.
Monday’s announcement said the companies have received antitrust approval in the United States and are awaiting other regulatory and shareholder approvals that are expected in June.
The MeadWestvaco building will continue to be the company’s headquarters after its merger with Rock-Tenn. Photo by Jonathan Spiers.
A new name could be dotting Richmond’s cityscape come summer.
MeadWestvaco, the local packaging giant that is in the process of merging with Georgia-based Rock-Tenn Co., announced Monday the combined company’s new name: WestRock Co.
The announcement means the letters that have branded MWV’s downtown headquarters building since 2010 – and served as its ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange – will be a thing of the past.
Rock-Tenn’s ticker symbol, RKT, will likewise be replaced with the combined company’s new symbol: WRK.
Rock-Tenn CEO Steve Voorhees, who will lead WestRock in the same position, described the name as drawing on “the strongest elements” from each company’s legacy names.
“The name speaks to our determination to build on the long track record of success and growth that has been established by both companies,” Voorhees said in Monday’s announcement.
The company became MeadWestvaco in 2002 when the Mead Corp. and Westvaco were merged. It relocated its headquarters to Richmond in 2006.
MWV CEO John Luke Jr. will become a non-executive chairman of the combined WestRock, marking the first time in the history of MWV’s various iterations that a member of the Luke family is not a top executive.
MWV spokesman Tucker McNeil said the new name will be used to set up the legal elements of WestRock as it moves toward closing the merger by the end of the second quarter.
“We’ll start using WestRock at that point, which is when we will also have other changes and more to share about the combined company and the new name/identity,” McNeil said in an email.
The companies announced in January a marriage that is expected to create a packaging colossus with a combined $15.7 billion in annual revenue. The companies have said the merged firm would be headquartered in MWV’s riverfront tower at 501 S. Fifth St.
The stock-for-stock deal will give MWV shareholders control of about 51 percent of the combined company and Rock-Tenn stockholders control of the remaining 49 percent. Should the merger close as expected, Richmond would then be home to the country’s second-largest packaging company, behind only International Paper.
Monday’s announcement said the companies have received antitrust approval in the United States and are awaiting other regulatory and shareholder approvals that are expected in June.