The London-based business said that the plan to sell its healthcare business – which recorded sales of £427m in 2012 – as part of its longer-term strategy to focus on its core business manufacturing beverage cans.
Rexam's healthcare division employs more than 3,000 people and 13 facilities in the US, Europe and India.
Today's interim management statement from the £4.3bn-turnover group revealed that a process has kicked off to find a buyer for the business.
Analysts from Bank of America Merrill Lynch have speculated this morning that the division could sell for up to £780m.
The news follows last year's split-up and sale by Rexam of its personal care packaging arm, in two deals, to Sun Capital Partners and Silgan Holdings. The deals, announced in July, totalled £452m. http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/rexam-to-sell-personal-care-business-for-452m/
The statement, which updated on half-year trading, also warned that operating profit for the first half of the year will be slightly down on last year's performance due to "disappointing" sales in South America and Western Europe in the last two months.
However, North America has performed strongly while Rexam's operations in Brazil have improved in June, the statement said.
Graham Chipchase, Rexam's Chief Executive said: "It has been a challenging first half, but we have taken assertive action on costs to mitigate the impact on our performance and maintain our capital discipline.
"Although we are still in the midst of our seasonally important summer period, we are managing the business proactively to overcome these challenges, and we continue to expect full year performance to show improvement over 2012, even if progress is likely to be less than previously anticipated.
"Following the proposed sale of Healthcare, Rexam will be a focused beverage cans business with a strong balance sheet and a clear strategy to maximise long term shareholder value."
