- Apollo Global Management is currently leading the RPC Group takeover bid with a £3.3 billion offer
- Berry Global has been given time till March 13 to make a clear announcement on its intention to make a competing offer
Berry Global, Inc (Berry Global), an Indiana-based Fortune 500 plastic packaging products manufacturer, has reportedly been given time till March 13 to make a clear announcement on its intention of making a competing offer for the £3.3bn RPC Group (RPC) takeover by New York-baswed private equity firm, Apollo Global Management (Apollo).
Reports cite, Apollo made the £3.3 billion offer back in January to acquire RPC following a several-month long negotiation process. RPC had accepted the offer but was approached by Berry Global on January 31 for the due diligence data needed to make a takeover offer.
According to a report by the Independent, the takeover regulator assigned for the process claimed that both Berry & RPC have formally accepted the decision made by the takeover panel regarding the deadline. However, the hard deadline given to Berry would cease to be valid if any other enterprise announces its firm intention to acquire RPC.
Before Berry Global stepped in, it seemed as if the £3.3 billion offer by Apollo was almost made final, which was announced hours prior to the regulatory deadline. This, however, caused disquiet among RPC shareholders who felt they were receiving a raw deal.
As part of Apollo’s offer, all RPC shareholders would be getting 782p in cash for each RPC share they own, which is 15.6% up from the 683.6p closing price the shares were trading at on September 7, the last day prior to the confirmation of the discussions.
According to reports, RPC shares jumped more than 3.7% after Berry Global’s statement of intent was submitted to the company with each share trading at 794p, where the cost still remains approximately 12p higher than Apollo’s present bid.
