Report says Pactiv Corp. to be acquired by Berry Plastics owner

The Wall Street Journal is reporting a big packaging industry deal may be in the works, as the “largest leveraged buyout” in two years is set to put Pactiv into private hands: Apollo Global Management, owner of Berry Plastics Corp.

Pactiv Corp., maker of Hefty Bags, disposable tableware, Easy Grip party cups, and a host of other plastic products, is on the cusp of being acquired by Apollo Global Management, according to The Wall Street Journal. On April 1 of this year, Pactiv completed the purchase of the stock of PWP Industries, a leading manufacturer of APET disposable products. (Find our coverage of the deal here.) The company Q1 results, released April 21, showed sales up 1% to $777 million from $766 million the previous quarter. Pactiv also had 8% Q1 organic volume growth and 7% lower pricing due to raw materials pricing moving lower, said Pactiv’s quarterly report.

Apollo owns Berry Plastics Corp, which it acquired in 2006 for $2.25 billion, then merged it with Covalence Specialty Material Corp., another Apollo-owned company. In 2008, Berry acquired Captive Plastics Inc. for about a half billion dollars. Sources close to the WSJ said that one scenario “is for Apollo to fold Pactiv into Berry.” The companies involved have declined comment. —mpweditorial@cancom.com