Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) and packaging group Ardagh [NYSE:AMBP] last week informed bidders that made it to the second round of the sale process of their portfolio company Trivium Packaging, three sources familiar with the situation said.

The sellside advisor Evercore also invited banks to offer financing views to help buyers with financing for a potential deal, two of the sources said.

A Trivium deal, the sources said, is likely to be financed by a bank syndicate, with a bulk of the financing expected to be raised in Europe, two of the sources said.

Trivium, the same sources said, generates a ton of cash flow even though it is growing slowly and, therefore, can support leverage at around 5x EBITDA. The enthusiasm of banks to fund such a deal is strong in what appears to be a stable financing market at this time, they added.

KKR is among those potential buyers around the sale process, two of the sources said. Around a handful of parties, primarily sponsors, went through to the second round, these sources added.

This news service first reported that US-based packaging company Sonoco [NYSE:SON] and private equity firm Platinum Equity were expected to be among the first-round bidders for the Dutch company. Other US sponsors, including Onex, Lonestar, and Apollo were also expected to throw their hat into the ring, as reported.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that a group of private credit lenders were poised to provide up to USD 2.5bn in financing, with both dollar and euro-denominated tranches. Trivium is being marketed off an adjusted EBITDA of USD 480m, based on FY24 figures, and the asset is expected to fetch an EV/EBITDA multiple of 8x-8.5x, this news service previously reported.

As previously reported by this news service, the sale process was relaunched recently after OTPP and Ardagh’s previous attempt to offload the company through an auction in 2022 came to naught.

Ardagh is under pressure to address a slew of debt coming due in the next few years – starting with USD 700m of 5.25% senior secured bonds maturing in April 2025 – and has tapped Houlihan Lokey and Kirkland & Ellis as advisors, as reported by Debtwire.

Trivium, Ardagh and Evercore did not respond to requests for comments. OTPP and KKR declined to comment.