Arconic Inc. ARNC -0.87% is weighing takeover approaches from at least two private-equity groups, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be one of the biggest recent leveraged buyouts.
Blackstone Group BX -0.39% LP and Carlyle Group LP made a joint approach to the aerospace-parts maker, while Apollo Global Management APO -1.31% LLC also expressed interest, the people said.
The two competing groups have indicated a willingness to pay a per-share price in the mid-$20s, the people said. Arconic stock closed Wednesday at $19.26, having surged by more than 10% since The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the company is the subject of private-equity interest.
Arconic’s board plans to discuss the possibility of a sale at a meeting Thursday ahead of its earnings report next week, one of the people said.
Others potentially interested in a deal with Arconic include KKR KKR 0.87% & Co. and Canadian private-equity firm Onex Corp. ONEX 0.54% , some of the people said.
No deal is imminent and there is no guarantee Arconic will proceed with a sales process or ultimately strike a deal.
A deal for Arconic would be one of the biggest leveraged buyouts of the year. The New York company, previously Alcoa, has a market value of more than $9 billion. At $25 a share, its equity would be worth around $12 billion. Arconic also has about $6.3 billion of debt.
If there is a sale, it would be the latest sign of a resurgence in the LBO market. Buyouts are on pace for their busiest year by dollar volume since 2007, according to Dealogic. Private-equity firms have raised record amounts of cash, which they are under pressure to spend in order to collect lucrative fees from their investors.
A number of the large LBOs from the precrisis era involved more than one private-equity buyer. Since then, firms have shied away from so-called club deals, which in many cases proved unwieldy, making the Blackstone-Carlyle partnership noteworthy: There were 74 such deals announced in 2017, down from 403 in 2007, Dealogic data show.
Arconic makes aluminum and titanium parts for the aerospace, automotive, building and energy industries. It was separated from what is now Alcoa Corp. in 2016 in a move aimed at creating a company with less exposure to aluminum-price swings. Arconic faced a campaign from activist investor Elliott Management Corp. that resulted in the resignation of its chief executive and an overhaul of the board. The hedge fund has about an 11% stake in Arconic.
Write to Miriam Gottfried at Miriam.Gottfried@wsj.com, Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com and Dana Cimilluca at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com
Appeared in the July 26, 2018, print edition as 'Arconic Considers Takeover Approaches.'