Business Description

1. Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation Packaging Corporation of America (“we,” “us,” “our,” “PCA,” or the “Company”) was incorporated on January 25, 1999 . In April 1999, PCA acquired the containerboard and corrugated packaging products business of Pactiv Corporation (Pactiv), formerly known as Tenneco Packaging, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tenneco Inc. We are a large, diverse manufacturer of both packaging and paper products. We are headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois and we operate primarily in the United States. We have approximately 16,800 employees. We report our business in three reportable segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. Our Packaging segment produces a wide variety of containerboard and corrugated packaging products. The Paper segment manufactures and sells a range of communication-based papers. Corporate and Other includes support staff services and related assets and liabilities, transportation assets, and activity related to other ancillary support operations. For more information about our segments, see Note 19, Segment Information. On September 2, 2025, we completed the acquisition of the containerboard business of Greif, Inc. for $ 1.8 billion in cash. The Greif containerboard business includes two containerboard mills with approximately 800,000 tons of production capacity and eight sheet feeder and corrugated plants located across the United States. The operating results of the Greif Acquisition are included in PCA’s results after the date of acquisition. On December 3, 2025, the Company approved and announced that it will permanently shut down the No. 2 paper machine and kraft pulping facilities at its Wallula, Washington containerboard mill. The Company will continue to operate the No. 3 paper machine and recycled pulping facilities at the mill. These actions, completed earlier in the first quarter of 2026, are estimated to result in approximately $ 205 million of pre-tax restructuring charges. In the fourth quarter of 2025, we recorded $ 128.0 million of expenses associated with this shut down, which included non-cash impairment and accelerated depreciation charges, charges for contract termination, severance, and other costs. These expenses were recorded in “Cost of sales” and “Other expense, net” in the Consolidated Statements of Income. The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PCA and its majority-owned subsidiaries after elimination of intercompany balances and transactions.