Onex Said to Lead Bids for Billionaire Hart’s Packaging Firm SIG

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — Onex Corp., Canada’s largest buyout firm, is leading the bidding for Swiss drinks and food carton manufacturer SIG Combibloc Group AG, according to people familiar with the matter.

Onex, which is competing against Swiss private-equity firm Partners Group Holding AG in the final round, may reach an agreement to buy SIG for more than $4 billion as early as this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because talks are private. Talks could still fall apart, they said.

SIG was bought by New Zealand-based Rank Group Ltd., which is backed by billionaire Graeme Hart, in 2007 for 2.8 billion Swiss francs ($2.9 billion). The company, which was founded in the 1850s as a railway carmaker, had sales of 1.68 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in 2013, and more than 5,100 employees in about 40 countries, according to its website.

Representatives for Onex and Neuhausen, Switzerland-based SIG couldn’t be immediately reached outside of regular business hours. A spokesman for Partners Group declined to comment. A spokesman at Rank Group in New Zealand couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in London at [e-mail]; Kiel Porter in London at [e-mail]; Scott Deveau in Toronto at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at [e-mail] Rita Nazareth