Jindal Poly Films exploring sale of European arm, valued at $1 billion

Jindal Poly Films Ltd., the Indian packaging films company backed by the sprawling billionaire Jindal family, is exploring a sale of its European-based business, people familiar with the matter said.

The company is working with an adviser on the potential divestment of Luxembourg-based Jindal Films Europe Sarl, which could be worth as much as $1 billion, said the people. It has sent initial marketing documents to private equity firms and industry players, the people said, asking not to be identified because discussions are private.

Shares of Jindal Poly Films have fallen 19% in Mumbai trading this year, giving the company a market value of about $449 million.

Jindal Films makes specialty biaxially oriented polypropylene and polyethylene films, mostly for flexible packaging and labeling for food, beverages and health and beauty care. The European unit, which has operations on the continent and in the US, traces its roots to the purchase of ExxonMobil Chemical’s BOPP global films business agreed in 2012 as well as the 2018 acquisition of German business Treofan.

The potential sale comes as tight credit markets hamper dealmaking activity across the globe. Deliberations are ongoing, and there’s no certainty they will result in a transaction, the people said. A representative for Jindal Poly Films declined to comment.

Jindal Poly Films in March agreed to sell a 25% stake in its packaging films business to Brookfield Asset Management for 20 billion rupees ($245 million).

The company is part of the B.C. Jindal Group, founded by its namesake in 1952 as a manufacturer of steel pipes and pipe fittings, according to its website. The industrialist died in 2016.

Another branch of the family that traces its lineage to Jindal’s brother controls the O.P. Jindal Group conglomerate. The matriarch of that part of the family, Savitri Jindal, is Asia’s richest woman with a fortune of $13.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.