News: ORA UPDATE 1-Australia's Orora to sell fibre business for $1.2 bln; return most proceeds to...

(Adds details on deal)

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Packaging company Orora Ltd (ORA) on Thursday said it will sell its Australasian fibre business to Nippon Paper Industries 3863.T and return the bulk of the proceeds to shareholders.

Orora said it had entered a binding agreement to sell the business for an enterprise value of A$1.72 billion ($1.16 billion). It expects net cash proceeds of about A$1.55 billion.

Of this, it intends to return about A$1.20 billion to shareholders through capital management initiatives.

"As a more streamlined group of businesses, there may be some reduction in roles required to support the Orora Group activities going forward," Managing Director and Chief Executive Brian Lowe said in a statement.

The company expects a net gain of about A$225 million from the deal, which is expected to close in early 2020.

Orora said that following the sale, it will focus on its Australasian beverage and North American businesses.

Nippon Paper could not be immediately reached for comment outside of working hours.

($1 = 1.4868 Australian dollars)