By Jim Johnson
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: November 12, 2014 11:03 am ET
Updated: November 12, 2014 11:08 am ET

Image By: Weener Plastik
Weener Plastik recently launched production of a cream cheese package for the Russian market.

Private equity and packaging firms are both showing an interest in purchasing German packaging company Weener Plastik, according to a Reuters report.

Investment firm Lindsay Goldberg is putting Weener into play, a deal that could fetch about $500 million (400 million euros), Reuters said, citing two anonymous sources.

It was just in February 2012 that Lindsay Goldberg revealed plans to purchase Weener, with the investment firm calling the company “a hidden champion” at that time. Weener’s chairman also called Lindsay Goldberg “the ideal partner.”

Weener’s products include sealing caps, valve caps, beverage caps, plastic bottles, jars, dispensers and dosing systems. They are sold to the personal care, food and beverage, home care, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

These days Weener has 30 locations around the world and employs more than 2,000, according to the company’s website. That includes a site in Wilson, N.C., that opened in 2006. The company has been in business since 1960.

Only late last year Weener Plastik acquired the remaining shares of Weener Empire Plastics Ltd. of Mumbai, India.

Weener Plastik had a minority stake in the firm, which has seven factories in India, before the move. Weener Empire Plastics makes plastic closures and containers for the food, personal care and pharmaceutical industries.

Offers are coming in at around eight times earnings, as investment firms Bain, Charterhouse, Ardian and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice all have made “tentative bids,” Reuters reported. The news service said strategic buyers also are interested.