Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/550331
68 tobaccoasia By Chris Bickers Hustling to beat the frost, Marty Adams (right, blue shirt) of Knightdale, N.C., directs his workers in harvesting his flue-cured leaf. ITG sets up in Lorillard's N. Carolina home The name on the door at Lorillard's former headquarters in Greensboro, N.C. will be ITG Brands, the new name for Imperial Tobacco's American company. The newly named subsidiary is going to be dealing with some major tasks. ITG is acquiring the RJR cigarette brands Kool, Salem, and Winston and the Lorillard brands blu eCigs and Maverick cig- arettes as part of the RJR/Lorillard merger. It will also acquire Lorillard's tobacco receiving and storage facilities in Danville, VA, to go along with manufacturing and r&d facilities and the cor- porate headquarters in Greensboro. blu eCigs will continue to be manufactured in Charlotte, NC. The assets are to be acquired for a consideration of US$7.1bn. A number of Commonwealth-Altadis em- ployees will relocate to Greensboro from Fort Lauderdale, FL. The acquisition makes ITG the third largest tobacco company in the United States, with a 10% share of the cigarette market. All of this is depen- dent on regulatory approval, which is expected this coming spring. The long-standing Commonwealth Brands cigarette factory in Reidsville, NC – formerly the American tobacco factory – will continue to op- erate. Commonwealth-Altadis, Inc., which was formed in 2010 by Imperial Tobacco by combin- ing Commonwealth Brands and cigar maker Alta- dis USA and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL, also will become part of ITG Brands. The combined Commonwealth Brands and Altadis Dixie Developments: Change Comes to US Tobacco Region From new players, factory closings, takeovers, altered business models, and the e-cigarette business, there's a changing face to Dixie, the traditional heartland of the US cigarette and tobacco industries in the southeast, reports Chris Bickers.