American packaging giant Crown Holdings Inc, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will open a new wholly-owned beverage can production facility in the suburbs of Phnom Penh, according to a company press release.

The facility, which informed sources say will entail an initial investment of $40 million, will have an annual capacity of around 500 million two-piece, 330 milliliter aluminum cans, the size used by Tiger beer, Coke, Pepsi and others.

The factory, which will be built and operated by its Singapore-based subsidiary Crown Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd, is expected to begin production in mid-2007.

Crown Holdings Inc posted worldwide revenues of $6.9 billion in December 2005 with a gross profit of $1.149 billion.