The prospect of a bidding war for Britain’s champion cardboard box manufacturer lifted shares in DS Smith to a two-year high.
Following confirmation that International Paper of the US had put in a counteroffer, DS Smith stock closed up 36¾p, or 10.2 per cent, at 396½p on Wednesday, valuing the company at £5.5 billion.
The shares have risen by 26.5 per cent since the start of the year and after it emerged that it was being stalked by Mondi, a rival paper and packaging firm.
This month DS Smith agreed a £10.5 billion, 54-46 all-paper merger with Mondi, a larger packaging powerhouse that was spun out from the Anglo-American mining empire.
The level of DS Smith’s share price at the close on Wednesday is
