By Soyoung Kim and Greg Roumeliotis
Bahrain-based investment firm Investcorp Bank BSC is looking to sell Berlin Packaging LLC in a deal that could value the U.S. packaging distribution company at around $1.3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Investcorp has hired investment banks Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG to run a sale process for Berlin Packaging, the people said this week.
The company has annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of roughly $100 million, some of the people added, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are not public.
Berlin Packaging, Investcorp, Barclays and Deutsche Bank representatives declined to comment.
Investcorp acquired a majority stake in Chicago-based Berlin Packaging in 2007 for $410 million.
Andrew Berlin created Berlin Packaging following the acquisition by his father, Melvin Berlin, of Alco Packaging in 1988.
Andrew Berlin agreed to continue as chief executive after the deal with Investcorp. He also owns the South Bend Silver Hawks baseball team, and is an investor in the Chicago White Sox baseball team.
Berlin Packaging distributes plastic, glass and metal containers and closures for the food and beverage, household, personal care and healthcare markets.
A sale of the company would be the latest in a wave of deals in the industrial and consumer packaging sectors as a modest economic recovery spurs private equity firms to seek companies with strong cash flows and high barriers to entry.
New Zealand's richest man, Graeme Hart, is exploring a sale of SIG Combibloc Group Ltd that could value the world's second-largest maker of drink cartons at around $5 billion, Reuters reported on Monday.
Buyout firm Odyssey Investment Partners LLC is exploring a sale of Ranpak Corp that could value the company, one of the world's largest producers of protective paper packaging materials, at close to $1 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters this week.
