Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Dallas-based Hicks Acquisition Company to combine with Graham Packaging in $3.2 billion transaction

By Pegasus News wire

DALLAS — Hicks Acquisition Company I, Inc., a Dallas-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) founded and headed by Thomas O. Hicks, announced today that it has reached an agreement in principle - subject to execution of a definitive agreement, which is expected to be finalized in the next few days - pursuant to which Graham Packaging Holdings Co. will go public through a transaction with Hicks Acquisition in partnership with The Blackstone Group and the Graham Group. The transaction, valued at approximately $3.2 billion, is believed to be the largest ever between a SPAC and an industrial company.

Photo not provided by Hicks Acquisition, Graham Packaging

Hicks Acquisition will be the creamy, delicious center of the new Graham Packaging Company

Following completion of the transaction, the combined enterprise will be renamed Graham Packaging Company and will apply for listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Blackstone has agreed it will maintain the largest ownership stake for at least two years as it continues to play an important role in guiding the Company strategically and operationally.

Founded in 1972 and based in York, Pennsylvania, Graham Packaging, with 2007 net sales of approximately $2.5 billion, is a global technology and innovation leader in value-added blow-molded rigid plastic containers for the branded food and beverage, household, personal care/specialty and automotive lubricant industries.

Mr. Hicks, founder and Chairman of Hicks Acquisition, said: “After considering more than a hundred possible transactions, we’re tremendously pleased to have identified Graham Packaging as the right transaction for Hicks Acquisition, and to be partnering with Blackstone, whose senior partners I have had close business relationships with for many years, and the other Current Graham Equity Holders. Under the leadership since December 2006 of a new management team headed by Chairman and CEO Warren Knowlton and COO/CFO Mark Burgess, Graham Packaging has burnished its already-outstanding reputation as the technology and innovation leader in its industry’s high-value-added segment and has significantly improved its operational and financial performance. We look forward to completing the transaction and supporting the management team as they continue to create value for Graham Packaging’s customers, continue to build a solid platform for profitable growth, and work to realize Graham Packaging’s full operational, financial and investment potential.”

Graham Packaging is a market leader in value-added custom plastic containers, producing more than 20 billion container units annually at 83 manufacturing plants in North America, Europe and South America. It is the leading supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies, nutritional supplements, wide-mouth food, condiments, beer, liquid laundry detergent and motor oil.

The Company provides custom valued-added products to many of the world’s leading consumer product companies, including, among others, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Danone/Dannon, Ocean Spray, Heinz, Abbott, Arizona Beverages, Nestlé/Gerber, Anheuser-Busch, SAB Miller, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Church & Dwight, Dial/Henkel, Clorox and Colgate.

Source: Hicks Acquisition Company

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• Economics > Mergers & Acquisitions
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