The real reason Big Tobacco is getting even bigger

British American Tobacco said on Friday that it has offered to buy U.S. tobacco giant Reynolds American in a $47 billion deal that would create the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company.

British American Tobacco — the London-based owner of cigarette brands such as Lucky Strike and Pall Mall — owns 42 percent of the shares in Reynolds and has offered to buy out the remaining 58 percent. The proposal comes as U.S. companies are dealing with plummeting use of tobacco products, and seeking to recapture some of that market with new tobacco products like e-cigarettes.