FRANKFURT, Oct 26 (Reuters) - British packaging group RPC is preparing a bid for private equity-owned French peerAlbea in a potential $1.5 billion deal as it seeks to broadenits footprint in bottles, dispensers and tubes for cosmetics,people close to the matter said.
Private equity group Sun Capital has put Albea up for salewith the help of investment bank Lazard and has askedpotential buyers to hand in first-round bids by a Nov. 4deadline, they said.
Buyout groups including CVC, Bain, Advent, PAI, Onex andPartners Group are also expected to present offers, they added,while one of the sources said that U.S.-based packaging groupBemis may also bid.
Sun Capital, Lazard and the potential bidders declined tocomment or were not immediately available for comment.
Albea is expected to post earnings before interest, taxes,depreciation and amortisation of about $180 million this year,and bidders are expected to offer to buy it at a valuation ofabout 8 times EBITDA or more.
Bankers are working on financing packages of up to $1billion.
Albea, formerly known as Alcan Packaging Beauty, has grownstrongly since its buyout by Sun in 2010, helped by a series ofacquisitions of such as that of Rexam Personal Care in 2012.
RPC has also made a number of mainly small acquisitionsrecently, and among other bought peer British PolytheneIndustries for 261 million pounds earlier thisyear.
If Sun Capital is unable to see its price expectations metit may opt for a refinancing instead of a sale, one of thesources said.
($1 = 0.9152 euros) (Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
