The London-headquartered packaging giant announced its proposed purchase of the company, in a deal worth £1.45bn, in June 2018.

Last Thursday (17 January), the board of the Spanish Securities Market Commission (CNMV) announced to Europac’s shareholders the result of the tender offer launched by DS Smith on 3 December.

Acceptances representing 98.8% of the total share capital of Europac have been received by DS Smith and, as a result, the CNMV said the final condition of DS Smith’s proposed acquisition of the business has been satisfied “and settlement and completion are expected to take place around 22 January”.

“We look forward to welcoming Europac employees into the DS Smith group and integrating the businesses to the benefit of all our stakeholders,” said DS Smith group chief executive Miles Roberts.

“This acquisition is a fantastic opportunity to enhance our customer coverage and offering in this important region.”

Operating in Portugal, Spain and France, Europac employs more than 2,300 staff. In 2017 the business delivered revenues of €868m (£767m) and had recurring EBITDA of €147m.

In the first nine months of 2018, its recurring EBITDA was €157m and net profit was at €79m, compared with €104m and €58m posted in the same period of 2017.

DS Smith revealed it is considering the sale of its plastics division alongside a positive set of half-year results last month. It had started an initial review of the division earlier in 2018.

The group’s share price stood at 335.8p at the time of writing.