ADVERTISEMENT

Packaging Maker RPC Is Said to Explore Options Including Sale

Packaging Maker RPC Is Said to Explore Options Including Sale

(Bloomberg) -- RPC Group Plc, one of Europe’s biggest packaging makers with a market value of $3.6 billion, is considering strategic options including a possible sale, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The U.K. company is holding talks with advisers following interest from potential buyers including buyout firms, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. RPC, based in Rushden in Northamptonshire, England, hasn’t made a final decision and could decide against a transaction such as a take-private, the people said.

A representative for RPC declined to comment.

Shares of RPC, which makes packaging for food and cosmetics among other products, have declined more than 20 percent this year, valuing the company at 2.8 billion pounds. Any deal would come amid a wave of industry consolidation and global economic growth. Australia’s Amcor Ltd. agreed last month to acquire U.S. competitor Bemis Co. in an all-stock deal valued at $5.26 billion and DS Smith Plc agreed in June to buy Spanish packaging supplier Europac.

The British company, whose origins date to 1991 with a management buyout of five manufacturing sites in the U.K. from SCA, now has about 25,000 employees in more than 30 countries, according to its website, and reported full-year revenue of 3.75 billion pounds, according to a statement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net;Aaron Kirchfeld in London at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.