News: AMC UPDATE 1-Australia's Amcor in talks to buy U.S. packaging company Bemis - WSJ, page-8

Just came off the conference call.

Interestingly, the transaction is being presented more as an agreed merger of the two companies, than an acquisition of Bemis by Amcor.

And, as expected, the key selling point of the deal is all about the synergy potential...US$180m of it.

That said, it did strike me that they (both Amcor and Bemis management) had thought through the integration issues very well, and there was plenty of high level of conviction in the achievement of the targeted synergies.

And there was also some emphasis on the conference call on the appeal of the mechanics of the deal, namely a full scrip bid leading to a dual listing which would result in technical buying of the merged company. Personally, I don't put too much store of value in this sort of re-rating theory.

If I was to back anyone to successfully execute on such a a bringing together of two large, global businesses, it is the management team at Amcor.

However, there is still a degree of value transfer from Amcor to Bemis shareholders, although the sticker shock response from the market this morning in terms of Amcor's share price response more than reflects that, I think.

In summary, maybe it was the supreme confidence with which Ron Delia pitched the transaction (he certainly came across as being on top of the issues, judging by the forthright and definitive manner in which he answered even the curliest of analyst questions), but I come away feeling less irked about this deal than I did when news of it first broke.

But I've long ago learnt that whenever slick management utterances have the effect of seducing my senses, then the best thing to do is to take a week or so to do a bit of navel gazing, before making any rash decisions.

Right now the market animal in me says the market will overcome its Day One Tantrum, and will warm to the deal, and the stock price will be higher, rather than lower, in 6 months' time.