More buyout funds appear to be trawling over two of the largest businesses up for sale in Australia, with The Carlyle Group emerging as a possible buyer for Owens-Illinois Asia Pacific and EQT Infrastructure closing in on Illion.
The Carlyle Group joins KKR and Blackstone in vying for the Asia-Pacific division of Owens Illinois, known as O-I, which generates annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $140m and is expected to sell for at least $1bn.
It is understood that KKR already has an adviser locked in for the sale.
The sales process for the glass packaging and bottles manufacturer is being run by Goldman Sachs and is in the early stages.
A trade buyer that could circle the business is the Australian company owned by beer brand San Miguel, Cospak, which also manufactures glass packing for food and drinks.
Other private equity firms are likely to enter the field, including Pacific Equity Partners.
O-I is one of the world’s largest container glass manufacturers and is staging an exit from Australia following a global strategic review.
The New York-listed company is also the largest glass producer in the Asia-Pacific and competes with listed Amcor spin-off Orora.
According to IBISWorld, the Asia-Pacific operations operate 12 glass plants across Australia (including in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney), New Zealand, China and Indonesia.
It also has joint ventures in China, Malaysia and Vietnam.
One of the drawcards for any buyer, despite high Australian manufacturing and capital expenditure costs, is the move by drinks giants such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola away from plastic packaging and towards glass, which is more environmentally friendly.
Other possible trade buyers could include Anthony Pratt’s Visy Industries or Europe’s Ardagh Group, with Orora likely to be blocked from an acquisition by the competition watchdog.
Meanwhile, EQT Infrastructure is believed to be the latest group to have emerged among the shortlist of groups looking at Archer Capital’s credit checking business Illion.
Other infrastructure investors also suggested to be in the mix are Singapore’s Keppel Infrastructure and Macquarie Group — either through the company itself or through its Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets arm.
The former Dun & Bradstreet operation is expected to sell for more than $1.5bn.
Others in the second stage of the Citi and Houlihan Lokey-run contest are believed to be Blackstone, PEP, Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group.
Some have suggested PEP could be a frontrunner, given it previously owned Illion’s rival Veda.
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