British packager DS Smith says to buy Austria's Duropack

(Adds CFO comment, analyst comment, share movement, background)

By Aashika Jain

Feb 23 (Reuters) - DS Smith Plc (Other OTC: DITHF - news) , a British maker of corrugated cardboard, recycled paper and plastic packaging, said it agreed to buy Vienna-based packaging business Duropack for about 300 million euros ($341 million) from a subsidiary of One Equity Partners.

The deal, which helped to push up DS Smith's shares 3.8 percent to a record high in early trading on Monday, will help the company continue its expansion into southeastern Europe.

"The main driver is Duropack's business in Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Slovenia, and Macedonia where DS Smith has limited presence, if any, and Duropack has a very strong market leading presence," Chief Financial Officer Adrian Marsh told Reuters.

DS Smith, whose customers include Procter & Gamble Co , Nestle SA and Unilever Plc (NYSE: UL - news) , said the acquisition would be financed from existing facilities and immediately add to earnings per share.

The company said it expected the acquisition, which is subject to competition clearance, to be completed in the second quarter of the year. It said it expected cost synergies of 12 million euros to be realised within three years.

J.P. Morgan Cazenove analysts, reiterating their "overweight" rating on DS Smith's stock, said the proposed acquisition was strategically sound and attractively priced, at 5.7 times EBITDA "post-synergies".

DS Smith's shares were trading at 360.3 pence at 0900 GMT. ($1 = 0.8808 euros) (Reporting by Aashika Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi and Ted Kerr)