Madison Dearborn's bid for Jefferson Smurfit Group offered shareholders good value, Mr Ian Curley, chief financial officer of Jefferson Smurfit, has said.

The bid received a relatively cool reception from the market, with shares initially advancing 3 per cent to €3.16 on the back of the news.

Madison Dearborn's bid valued Smurfit at €3.7 billion, an offer that some analysts said left room for improvement.

"There's a fairly standard set of metrics within the paper industry on how you value a business and if you look at the valuation of the Jefferson Smurfit Group on those metrics, this deal is right on track with that, so it's bang on value," said Mr Curley.

He said the Smurfit board had not been too hasty in recommending the Madison Dearborn offer when it had emerged that a second potential buyer had made an approach to the company.

"There is no connection between the two," said Mr Curley. "We made an announcement early in May and then we made a subsequent announcement.

"We're talking three or four weeks since we confirmed [the bid\] and the market has been expecting us to say something. There is no rush and they are not linked."

US private equity house Texas Pacific, headed by Mr David Bonderman, chairman of budget airline Ryanair, has been reported to be considering a rival bid for the paper and packaging group.

But Mr Curley said he could not comment on the identity of the second bidder.

"I can say nothing more than what Martin Rafferty, chairman of the independent committee, said at the time - he just confirmed that there was at the very early stages somebody looking at the possibility of an offer but it is very much at the early stages," he said.

Mr Curley was speaking after addressing the third Irish-Mexican business forum at the European Foundation in Dublin.