Apollo, Blackstone said among bidders for Ball-Rexam assets

Apollo Global Management, Blackstone Group LP and Madison Dearborn Partners are in the second round of bidding for assets being sold as part of Ball Corp.’s acquisition of Rexam Plc, people familiar with the matter said.

The divested operations could be valued at about $4 billion based on combined earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $400 million, one of the people said, asking not to be named because the deliberations are private. The sale process is ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said.

Ball’s approximately 4.4 billion pound ($6.1 billion) acquisition of Rexam will create a packaging giant that supplies cans and bottles to companies such as Coca-Cola Co. and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, according to supply-chain data compiled by Bloomberg. Bidders are making offers for a group of assets Ball agreed to divest as part of the deal, including 12 plants in Europe and operations in Brazil, in order to satisfy regulators’ concerns.

Glass and packaging business Ardagh Group SA is also considering an offer for the assets, Chairman Paul Coulson said on a call with analysts Monday. The plants would be “very complimentary” to Ardagh’s North American and European businesses, he said.

Spokesmen for Ball, Rexam, Madison Dearborn and Blackstone declined to comment. A representative for Apollo didn’t respond to an e-mail request seeking comment.