By Claire Ruckin
LONDON (Reuters) - Around 10 banks are lining up to provide up to 3 billion euros (2 billion pounds) of leveraged loans and high yield bonds to back Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp's potential acquisition of Swiss packaging group SIG Combibloc Group, banking sources said on Wednesday.
Onex is expected to reach an agreement as early as this week for SIG, the world's second largest maker of drink cartons, in a sale that could fetch around 3.6 billion euros. Onex had been bidding against Swiss-based rival Partners Group.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays are expected to lead the financing on the bonds and loans, respectively. Goldman Sachs, Nomura and RBC are also expected to be involved at the second tier of lenders and a third tier could include Credit Agricole, Mizuho, Rabobank, RBS and UniCredit, the banking sources said.
The debt package will be denominated in euros, sterling and dollars and equates to between 6-6.5 times SIG's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around 420 million euros, including undrawn debt, the bankers said.
The financing will launch for syndication early next year if the sale to Onex goes ahead, the bankers said.
New Zealand's richest man, Graeme Hart bought Switzerland-based SIG in 2007.
SIG manufactures aseptic carton packaging that allows juices, milk, soups and sauces to be stored for a long period of time without refrigeration. The company has around 5,100 employees in 40 countries.
Onex and SIG were not immediately available to comment.
(Editing by Christopher Mangham)