DS Smith, the UK-based maker of recycled packaging, is to buy Swedish rival SCA Packaging in a €1.6bn deal that some bankers hope will boost confidence in mergers and acquisitions in Europe, says the FT. The acquisition of the business, a division of the larger SCA group, will bring together the second and third-biggest players by volume in the European packaging market, and will give the enlarged DS Smith a market share of about 14 per cent. Ireland’s Smurfit Kappa, the market leader, has a share of about 17 per cent. Despite a difficult 12 months for dealmaking, which saw the collapse of G4S’s planned acquisition of ISS and of AT&T’s move to acquire T-Mobile USA, shares in both companies rose on the news.