The tobacco giant would expand its range of smoke-free products with an acquisition. The offer could value Swedish Match at more than $15 billion.

The US tobacco company Philip Morris International is interested in taking over the smaller European competitor Swedish Match. The Swedes confirmed negotiations for a deal on Monday. However, there is no certainty that a purchase offer will actually come about.

According to this, Swedish Match could be valued at around 15 billion dollars (14.2 billion euros) or more in the event of an offer from Philip Morris and an agreement could be reached this week. In view of the worldwide decline in cigarette consumption, the US group is particularly interested in smoke-free products such as nicotine pouches, for which Swedish Match is well positioned.

The report sent Philip Morris shares slightly higher. They are currently gaining 2.03 percent on the NYSE to $100.95.

Record figures last year
Swedish Match showed record figures at the financial statements last year. For the full year, there were top marks for both sales and operating profit, with double-digit growth.

Our sales development in 2021 was outstanding and we achieved a new “all-time high”. Nicotine portions showed spectacular volume growth of over 50 percent in both the US and Scandinavia “, wrote CEO Lars Dahlgren in a comment.