Rank Group bids $1.64 bn for Graham Packaging Company

US-based Graham Packaging Company yesterday said that it had received an unsolicited $1.64-billion takeover bid from a third party, trumping an earlier $1.4 billion bid from local rival Silgan Holdings Inc.

Citing an unnamed source, Reuters said that Rank Group Ltd, run by New Zealand's richest man Graeme Hart, estimated by Forbes to have a net worth of $5.5 billion and with a track record of big acquisitions, is the mystery bidder behind the unsolicited bid for Graham.

Without disclosing the identity of the bidder, York, Pennsylvania-based Graham, which is majority-owned by private equity firm Blackstone Group said yesterday that it had received an unsolicited $25-a-share cash offer for the company, valuing it at $1.64 billion.

Rank's bid is 13-per cent higher than Silgan's bid of about $22.10 a share or $1.4 billion.

Graham is a leading supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies, nutritional supplements, wide-mouth food, dressings, condiments and beers, plastic containers for yogurt drinks, liquid fabric care products, dish care products, hard-surface cleaners, and a leading supplier in the US, Canada and Brazil of one-quart / litre plastic motor oil containers.

Graham has an extensive blue-chip customer base that includes many of the world's largest branded consumer products companies like HJ Heinz Co, Kraft Foods, Unilever, and Coca-Cola among others.