German packaging maker Kloeckner Pentaplast is preparing a stock market listing in the United States, two people familiar with the matter said.

The group's owner, private equity group Strategic Value Partners (SVP), has retained Goldman Sachs and Jefferies to advise on the potential deal, after the failure last year of a second attempt to sell the business.

SVP has picked the United States as a location for the planned offering, which could take place within the next couple of months, as peers such as Polyone, Berry, Ball and Silgan are already listed there.

SVP acquired Kloeckner Pentaplast from private equity firm Blackstone following a lengthy restructuring. Blackstone had bought the company from Cinven in 2007, backed by 1.25 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of leveraged loans.

A second attempt within a year to sell the company in autumn 2014 was put on ice after potential buyers indicated they would not meet the asking price of around 1.5 billion euros.

That price valued Kloeckner Pentaplast at more than eight times its 2013/14 earnings before interest, tax, amortisation and depreciation of 183 million euros.

Polyone, Berry, Ball and Silgan trade at around 8 to 10 times expected earnings.

Officials at SVP, Kloeckner Pentaplast and the banks declined to comment.

For the first nine months of its current financial year through September, Kloeckner Pentaplast reported adjusted EBITDA up almost 16 percent to 155 million euros on sales of 949 million.

Founded in 1965 as a unit of steel and machinery group Kloeckner-Werke, Kloeckner Pentaplast makes packaging for pharmaceutical, food and electronics goods, as well as pipe insulation and other plastics products. It employs more than 3,000 staff at 18 production sites in 12 countries.

 

reuters.com

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