Amcor pushes for Zurich HQ move

Australian packaging giant Amcor will move a large number of jobs from its Melbourne HQ to Switzerland, with reports the company may also move its entire head office out of the country soon. Amcor, which does 95 per cent of its business overseas, says the company will relocate some staff and positions over the next 18 months. However the chairman and chief executive will remain in Melbourne.

Zurich-RZD

The headquarters in Hawthorn will be reduced to 20 staff members from 50, and the company has not yet confirmed how many of those will be transferred to Zurich, and how many will be made redundant. John Murray, executive general manager, corporate affairs at Amcor, says Australia only accounts for five per cent of the paper and packaging company’s business and it made sense to relocate some functions closer to customers in Europe. However, Murray insists there are no plans to relocate Amcor’s head office to the Swiss capital, where the corporate tax rate is 17.9 per cent, but industry reports suggest it is only a matter of time before the company moves to Europe completely. This latest move is in line with Amcor’s continuous job cuts in Australia, most recently in February 2013 when it lost 300 jobs, closed two factories and downsized another. Amcor says that while most of its operations will be overseas the company will remain listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and pay tax in Australia.

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