Elopak makes overture for SIG

In late September, Norway’s Ferd Group, the parent firm of beverage and food carton and bottle packaging processor Elopak (Spikkestad, Norway), made an all-cash offer of CHF 2.1 billion ($1.7 billion) to acquire the entire share capital of SIG Holding Ltd. (Neuhausen, Switzerland). The board of directors at SIG recommended its shareholders reject the bid on grounds it doesn’t properly value the company, even though the bid was a substantial increase to SIG’s share price.

SIG includes businesses that make cartons, beverage-filling equipment, blowmolds (Moldtec), plasma-coating equipment for plastic packaging (Plasmax), and SIG Corpoplast (Hamburg, Germany), which makes stretch blowmolding machinery. CVC Capital Partners is supporting Ferd’s bid by footing almost half of the purchase price. The businesses have much in common and would pose a greater competitor to the carton packaging market’s giant, Tetra Pak, should SIG shareholders approve the offer.—Matt Defosse; [email protected]