Crown Cork & Seal Announces Agreement to Sell Fragrance Pump Business

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc. (NYSE: CCK; Paris Bourse) today announced an agreement to sell its fragrance pump manufacturing business located in Thomaston, Connecticut to Rexam PLC for approximately $107 million subject to a net asset adjustment. Net proceeds from the transaction will be used to reduce outstanding short-term indebtedness. The Company expects to complete the transaction following necessary regulatory approvals.

The Thomaston plant is one of nine facilities operated by Crown's Risdon-AMS cosmetics packaging subsidiary. The primary products manufactured at the plant consist of a line of fine mist spray actuated pumps used in personal fragrance applications. For the twelve months ended October 31, 2001 total revenues for the business were approximately $55 million and EBITDA was approximately $16 million. The Thomaston plant employs approximately 300 people.

Risdon, headquartered in Watertown, Connecticut, is a leading global supplier of health and beauty packaging products to the world's largest cosmetics and consumer products companies with manufacturing facilities in the US, Canada, France and Italy. Following the divestiture, Risdon's remaining product lines will include highly decorated, injection molded and assembled plastic packaging and related metal packaging products for leading global manufacturers of lipstick, lip-gloss, mascara, compacts and fragrance caps.

The Company was advised by Salomon Smith Barney.

Crown Cork & Seal is a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer marketing companies around the world. World headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

SOURCE Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc.
Web site: https://www.crowncork.com
CONTACT: Timothy J. Donahue, Senior Vice President - Finance of Crown Cork & Seal Company, +1-215-698-5100