Sonoco to build new US$15M rigid plastic container plant in New Albany, Ohio, install several PET injection stretch blow-molding, injection molding lines to make packaging, components for personal care products; facility to start up in Q2 2012

Liling Tan

HARTSVILLE, South Carolina , August 10, 2011 (press release) – Sonoco (NYSE: SON), one of the largest diversified global packaging companies, will be developing a new rigid plastic container operation in the new Beauty and Home Care campus in New Albany, Ohio. The new plant is expected to be operational by the end of the second quarter of 2012.

According to Rodger Fuller, vice president of Rigid Paper and Plastics, Sonoco will build a 120,000-plus square-foot plant and install several PET injection stretch blow-molding and injection molding lines to produce packaging and components for personal care products. Total cost of the plant building and equipment is projected to be approximately $15 million and the operation will employ approximately 60 new workers. Sonoco Plastics also operates a food-grade, blow-molding and injection molding plant in Columbus, Ohio, which was expanded in 2011.

Steve Gendreau, Sonoco Plastic's division vice president and general manager, blowmolding, said the new plant is being developed to produce containers and components for personal care products for Mast Global, the sourcing and logistics division of Limited Brands. Limited Brands represents some of the Beauty and Home Care industries most recognizable premium brands with Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Pink, LaSenza, and Henri Bendel. Initially, Sonoco's new plant will produce products for Limited Brands' Bath and Body Works stores.

"Limited Brands has been an important customer of Sonoco for several years and we are pleased to continue this important relationship with the development of a new facility in the New Albany/Columbus area," said Gendreau.

"Sonoco Plastics is a leader in designing and producing innovative, customized rigid plastic packaging for some of the largest personal care brands in North America. We look forward to expanding our offering through this new state-of-the-art facility and hope to further grow this operation in the future."

Sonoco Plastics is a leading manufacturer of monolayer and multilayer blow-molded bottles and jars, thermoformed cups and trays and engineered molded and extruded containers, spools and trays. The Company has 28 plastics operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany.

About Sonoco

Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a $4.1 billion global manufacturer of industrial and consumer products and provider of packaging services, with more than 300 operations in 34 countries, serving customers in some 85 nations. Sonoco is a proud member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. For more information on the Company, visit our Web site at http://www.sonoco.com/.

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