US private equity firm Apollo Global Management (New York, New York; www.agm.com) is to take over plastic packaging giant RPC (Rushden / UK; www.rpc-group.com) in a GBP 3.3 bn (EUR 3.8 bn) transaction. According to RPC chairman Jamie Pike, "The board believes that the offer of GBP 7.82 per share is a good outcome for shareholders and intends to recommend unanimously that they accept this offer." Apollo is no newcomer to plastics, having a hand in Berry Plastics, Hexion, Momentive and Airopack – see Plasteurope.com of 22.01.2019 – among others.

The UK packaging group said in autumn 2018 that a takeover offer could be made by Apollo or Bain Capital (Boston, Massachusetts / USA; www.baincapital.com) at the start of October 2018. RPC ended takeover talks with Bain in December 2018 – see Plasteurope.com of 03.12.2018.

For fiscal 2017/2018 (ending 31 March), RPC generated revenue of GBP 3.75 bn and an EBITDA of GBP 355m. Growth was driven by acquisitions, including Nordfolien (Steinfeld / Germany; www.nordfolien.com), a PE film producer – see Plasteurope.com of 14.03.2018. RPC has seen its share price declining for some time, with one reason being the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.