Reynolds Group Holdings (Auckland / New Zealand; www.reynoldsgroupholdings.com) is exploring the flotation of its packaging arm, Reynolds Consumer Products (Lake Forrest, Illinois / USA; www.reynoldsconsumerproducts.com). Bloomberg has reported that the business could be worth up to USD 7 bn (EUR 6.34 bn). The company owned by the Rank group, investment vehicle of New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart, said in September 2019 it had “confidentially” submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list its common stock.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been announced, but Reynolds said earlier that the IPO would be confirmed after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions. Bloomberg suggested that the launch could take place at the latest in the first quarter of 2020 and that an outright sale was also being considered.

Due to what investors see as its fragmented structure and largely recession-proof nature, the packaging sector has attracted substantial private equity interest of late. In October 2019, Reynolds agreed to sell the North American, Costa Rican and Japanese businesses of Closure Systems International (CSI, Memphis, Tennessee / USA; www.csiclosures.com), a leading manufacturer of plastic and aluminium closures for bottles and containers, for USD 615m. The buyer is private equity group Cerberus Capital Management (New York, New York / USA; www.cerberus.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 23.10.2019.