As managing editor of With all the plastics businesses for sale right now, it can get hard to keep track of everything. So here's a reminder about a pretty big pending sale, courtesy of London's Financial Times newspaper.
Their news: Owens-Illinois Inc. is getting close to selling its plastics operations. According to the report, Perrysburg, Ohio-based O-I will receive its first round of bids next week. The story quotes the ever-popular "sources close to the situation."
Candidates to buy the unit include Rexam plc, MeadWestvaco Corp., Apollo Management LP (owner of Berry Plastics Corp.) and Blackstone Group, according to the report. (We keep hearing all the same names ... but maybe we're just talking to the same "sources.")
Plastics are no longer a core asset for O-I, which wants to focus on its glass business. But the company's plastics operations are substantial: 12 North American plants that do injection molding and blow molding, plus assets in Brazil, Hungary, Singapore and Malaysia. The unit makes packaging and specialty closures for companies in the pharmaceutical, health-care, food and beverage, household, chemical and personal-care industries, and generates annual sales of $770 million.
The FT speculates that a buyer might pay $1.75 billion for the business.
We wrote about O-I's plans back in January, but since they announced it the same week that news leaked of of General Electric Co.'s plan to sell GE Plastics, you might have missed it.