Shorewood Bids for British Packaging Company

Richmond, VA-based Chesapeake Corp. had agreed January 20 to offer $371 million for Field Group plc, a British packaging supplier. However last week Shorewood Packaging Corp., based in New York, unexpectedly announced it might bid more than Chesapeake has offered for Field. Shorewood hasn't said how much it would be willing to outbid Chesapeake for Field. Shorewood said in a release last Monday only that another announcement will come "as soon as possible."

Chesapeake spokeswoman Molly Remes said Monday that the company had no comment about Shorewood's bid or whether Chesapeake would raise its offer. Chesapeake, the third-largest U.S. supplier of tissue products to restaurants and other industries, sought Field's specialty-packaging market to gain a foothold in Europe. Field makes packaging for pharmaceutical, food and tobacco companies, including United Distillers, BAT, Rothmans and Kodak.