Berry Plastics to buy Blackstone-owned Avintiv for $2.45 billion
Berry Plastics to buy Blackstone-owned Avintiv for $2.45 billion
Plastic lids are manufactured at the Berry Plastic Corp. factory in Evansville, Indiana November 23, 2009.
Plastic packaging products maker Berry Plastics Group Inc (BERY.N) said it would buy Avintiv Inc, which makes materials used in products ranging from diapers to disinfectant wipes, for about $2.45 billion in cash from Blackstone Group LP (BX.N).
Berry Plastics, which makes products such as duct tapes, spray adhesives and food wrap films, said it would buy Avintiv on a debt-free, cash-free basis.
Berry Plastics’ shares rose nearly 2 percent to $34 in trading before the bell on Friday.
Avintiv, which changed its name from PGI Specialty Materials Inc last month, was bought by Blackstone Group in 2010 for $326.2 million in cash from private equity firm MatlinPatterson in 2010.
The company, as PGI, filed for an initial public offering in February. At that time the company said its net loss had nearly tripled to about $97 million in the nine months ended Sept. 27, while sales rose 2.2 percent to $1.5 billion.
Avintiv’s specialty materials are also used in feminine hygiene products, face masks and surgical gowns and its customers include Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N), Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB.N) and Cardinal Health Inc (CAH.N).
Avintiv has 23 locations in 14 countries and supplies to many of the consumer and industrial product manufacturers that Berry Plastics supplies to, Berry Plastics said.
Berry Plastics said it expects the deal to add to its earnings and free cash flow and that it had secured debt financing to fund the deal.
The company expects the deal to close by the end of this year.
Berry Plastics’ financial advisers are Credit Suisse and Barclays, while Bryan Cave is its legal adviser. Citi and BofA Merrill Lynch were Avintiv and Blackstone’s financial advisers and Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett LLP is their legal adviser.
(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
http://usnewsplus.com/2015/07/30/berry-plastics-to-buy-blackstone-owned-avintiv-for-2-45-billion/
