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Coca-Cola Cans Maker in Pakistan Mulls $100 Million Sale

Coca-Cola Cans Maker in Pakistan Mulls $100 Million Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Beverage cans manufacturer Pakistan Aluminium Beverage Cans Ltd., a joint venture of the U.K.’s Ashmore Group and Pakistan’s Liberty Group Ltd., is exploring a sale that could fetch about $100 million, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The shareholders are working with an adviser on the potential sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The adviser has started sounding out prospective suitors, the people said. A formal sale process can start as soon as next year, one of the people said.

Founded in 2014, PABC counts Coca-Cola Co. as one of its major customers. The beverage cans manufacturer has a production capacity of as much as 1.2 billion cans per year, serving markets including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, according to its website. Ashmore owns 51% of the joint venture, while Liberty Group holds the remaining 49%.

While consumer goods packaging could be seen as a niche sector, it has been seeing some billion-dollar deals in the past year. U.S. packaging company Crown Holdings Inc. last year completed an acquisition of Signode Industrial Group Holdings Ltd., a provider of transit packaging solutions, for $3.9 billion. Baring Private Equity Asia is considering a sale of its Chinese packaging business, which could be valued at more than $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported this month.

Deliberations are at an early stage and they may not lead to a transaction, the people said. A representative for Ashmore declined to comment, while representatives for Liberty and PABC didn’t have immediate comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vinicy Chan in Hong Kong at vchan91@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fion Li at fli59@bloomberg.net, Jeff Sutherland

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