PRNewswire/ -- Crown Holdings, Inc., a leading supplier of metal packaging products worldwide, today announced that it has selected the city of Belem as the location for its previously announced beverage  can plant to be built by its subsidiary CROWN Embalagens S.A. in Northern Brazil.
The plant will produce two-piece aluminum beverage cans in multiple sizes and is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2012. The new plant will have an initial annual capacity of 1 billion cans and be designed to support additional production lines as future market needs require.
Raymond L. McGowan, President of Crown's Americas Division, commented, "Belem, the capital city of Para, has a population of over 2 million people and is strategically located at the entrance to the Amazon region. It is an ideal location from which to expand to meet growing customer demand for beer and soft drink cans."

Crown has been operating in Brazil since 1942 and has two-piece aluminum beverage can plants in Cabreuva, Estancia and Ponta Grossa and a beverage end plant in Manaus. As previously announced, the Company is in the process of adding additional beverage can lines at its Estancia and Ponta Grossa plants. When all of these projects are commercialized, Crown will have annual production capacity of 7.5 billion cans in Brazil.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, all other information in this press release consists of forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including whether demand will continue to grow for two-piece aluminum beverage cans in Brazil and globally, whether the Company can successfully implement its plans to construct a new plant and add additional capacity and meet related time and production targets (including obtaining any required consents and approvals which could delay or prevent expansion), that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause the statements made in this press release or the actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company to differ are discussed under the caption "Forward-Looking Statements" in the Company's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2009 and in subsequent filings made prior to or after the date hereof. The Company does not intend to review or revise any particular forward-looking statement in light of future events.

SOURCE: Crown Holdings, Inc.