Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank launched marketing last Tuesday on a 23.33m share offering, including 6.66m secondary shares by entities led by Blackstone, at US$14–$16, aiming at a US$1.1bn market capitalisation. Although Goldman Sachs has been added to the group to assist in the marketing effort, this is a similar syndicate to the one that tried to take the company public back in 2002.

Between then and now, the banks have been engaged on a myriad assignments. Citigroup advised Hicks Acquisition Company, a SPAC headed by private-equity veteran Tom Hicks, on an ill-fated acquisition attempt in 2008 that valued the business at about US$3.5bn, including assumed debt – only for the SPAC’s shareholders to vote against the acquisition, and instead opt for cash reimbursement.

Having been once again rebuffed, Graham Packaging looked to term out its capital structure through a series of actions. The company successfully reached agreement with lenders in May to extend the maturity of a US$1.2bn loan, and finalised terms of the extension in November when it took out a 2012 debt maturity with the proceeds of a US$250m, eight-year senior unsecured debenture.