Connecticut, US-based investment firm Strategic Value Partners canceled plans to sell Klockner Pentaplast after bids came in "well below" the firm's asking price of $1.9bn (€1.5bn), according to the article. SVP had acquired Montbaur, Germany-based Klockner Pentaplast for $1.3bn (€1.02bn) in debt and equity in 2012.

 

North American compounding leader PolyOne was said to be a bidder for Klockner in an 16 October Reuters article. But a company spokesman said later that same day that the Avon Lake, Ohio, US-based firm "is not bidding on Klockner Pentaplast."

 

PolyOne entered the sheet market when it bought Spartech for almost $400m (€315m)in early 2013.

 

Private equity firms Apollo Global Management, Ares Management and Platinum Equity also had been mentioned as potential buyers of Klockner, which has annual sales of $1.6bn (€1.26bn) in a wide variety of film and sheet products.

 

One market source said that overall profitability in the commodity sheet market has been affected by producers' inability to pass on higher resin prices to their own customers. This situation might be limiting SVP's ability to get a higher price for Klockner, the source said.

 

Klockner's 2013 North American sales were estimated at $610m (€480m), ranking 13th among the region's film and sheet makers, according to EPN's sister publication Plastics Newsestimate. The firm operates seven North American plants that employ 1,100.