Боуатер: қағаз агентінен әлемдік қаптама өндірушісіне дейін

Former British multinational corporation

Manchester born William Vansittart Bowater trained as a manager with James Wrigley and Sons, a paper making business based in Manchester. Having been dismissed in 1881 at age 43, Bowater decided to establish himself as a paper agent in London. In a quickly expanding market, Bowater later secured contracts to supply newsprint to two of the leading publishing entrepreneurs: Alfred Harmsworth, then publisher of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror; and Edward Lloyd, publisher of the Daily Chronicle. The company was subsequently renamed W. V. Bowater and Sons after three of Bowater's sons joined the business, but as an agent the business had few staff: Bowater and his three sons as partner; six clerks; two typists; and an office boy.

However, the great depression cut badly into both investors businesses, resulting in a desperate need for cash injections. After Rothermere sold his stakes in both the main company and the Mersey mill, Beaverbrook took the same action, resulting the company being again completely in family control. As newspaper circulation rose again, Eric invested to double the capacity of the Mersey mills. By 1962, company assets totalled close to £200 million. Consuming huge amounts of capital, the company had failed to invest in its newsprint production, leaving it with a high cost base which was added to by the opening of Bowater House, a new head office in Knightsbridge. However three years later, in 1987, the company acquired Rexham Corporation, a manufacturer of plastic, paper and foil, based in North Carolina. In 1992, the company acquired Dickinson Robinson Group Packaging. In 1995, the name was changed to Rexam, an abbreviation of the name of one of the Company's subsidiaries, Riegel Paper America, and the business was refocused again – this time into consumer packaging. It then went on to acquire O–I Plastics, a plastic packaging business in North America, in 2007. In June 2011, Rexam agreed to sell its lid making operations to the U. S. based Berry Plastics for £222 million (US$360 million). On 13 February 2014, Rexam acquired 51% stake in United Arab Can Manufacturing Ltd for $122 million. In February 2015, Rexam accepted Ball Corporation's sweetened takeover offer of £4.4 billion ($6.7 billion), a deal which created one of the world's biggest consumer packaging suppliers. Ball was required to sell eight U. S. aluminum can plants. In June 2016, Rexam was acquired by Ball Corporation for $8.4 billion.

Rexam had around 55 plants in over 20 countries and employed around 8,000 people. Its operations span Europe, the Americas and Asia.