Boxes and packaging manufacturer makes further acquisition
The New Zealand-based boxes and packaging company Reynolds Group has beaten its rival Silgan Holdings in a bidding war to acquire the American firm Graham Packaging in a deal reputedly worth 1.58 billion dollars.
Reynolds Group is owned by New Zealand’s richest man Graeme Hart, a 56 year-old self-made billionaire who started out as a truck driver before working his way up to his current position as a packaging magnate through a series of ambitious acquisitions. This latest purchase brings the total Hart has invested in packaging firms since 2006 up to a remarkable 13 billion dollars.
Commenting on the latest acquisition, Ghansam Panjabi, a market analyst for Robert W. Baird and Company, remarked: “This guy has never lost a bidding war in 20 years. They [Reynolds] want to be a multi-solution provider to their customers and they are driving it by increasing their product portfolio.”
Reynolds was able to raise its bid for Graham Packaging by 2 percent thanks to the fact that the Blackstone Group, which owns a controlling 61% interest in Graham, was in favour of the purchase, which meant that there was no need to obtain consent from other shareholders in the company.
