New Zealand’s richest man is paying $6 billion for Pactiv Corporation, which makes Hefty bags and related products. Kiwi billionaire Graeme Hart agreed on August 17 to acquire Pactiv through Reynolds Group Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of his investment vehicle Rank Group Limited.
The deal is Hart’s largest yet in the U.S. consumer sector. He paid $500 million for International Paper Company’s beverage packaging unit in 2006, bought Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. from KPS Capital Partners, LP, for $338 million in 2007, and in 2008 spent $2.7 billion to buy the Reynolds packaging and consumer businesses from Alcoa Inc.
