A little-known investor from New Zealand is stirring up the packaging business

PACKAGING rarely causes as much excitement as the products it contains. But rumours that no fewer than three firms were considering a bid for Pactiv, an American packaging company which counts “Hefty” rubbish bags among its brands, caused the price of its shares to leap by over a fifth earlier this month. In particular the identity of one of the supposed bidders—Rank Group of New Zealand—caused a stir. The publicity-shy owner of the investment firm, Graeme Hart, seems to be making a concerted effort to seize the crown of food packaging from Tetra Laval, which leads the industry.

Should an offer for Pactiv materialise, it would be the latest in a long series of deals that have built Rank into a big force in the business. In 2007 it bought SIG, a Swiss firm that makes cartons for drinks. The following year came the acquisition of the food-packaging business of Alcoa, an aluminium producer. Last month Rank moved to raise $1.75 billion in new debt so that Reynolds Group Holdings, the packaging group descended from that deal, could purchase other Rank units, including Evergreen Packaging, an American drinks-packaging firm that Mr Hart bought in 2006. Observers speculate that he intends to give Reynolds sufficient bulk not only to challenge Tetra but also to be able to strike sweeping deals to provide packaging to food conglomerates such as Kraft. But Mr Hart’s ultimate goal, if his past dealings are any guide, will simply be to sell Reynolds for a striking profit. …