Packaging and storage products manufacturer Reynolds Group Holdings (Chicago, Illinois / USA; www.reynoldspkg.com) has reached a definitive agreement to acquire fellow US packaging producer Pactiv (Lake Forest, Illinois; www.pactiv.com). The deal is valued at about USD 6 bn.

Pactiv’s board has unanimously approved the deal, under which the company’s shareholders will receive USD 33.25 per share of common company stock. That, the group says, constitutes a premium of about 39% over Pactiv’s closing price of USD 23.97 on 14 May 2010.

The agreement still has to meet the approval of Pactiv’s shareholders and regulators, which is expected to be forthcoming by the end of this year. Reynold's is a wholly owned subsidiary of the New-Zealand-based Rank Group (www.rank.com), which is owned by Graeme Hart. In 2008, Rank had acquired the packaging business of Alcoa (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / USA, www.alcoa.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 04.01.2008.