Frozen fish fingers, one of Iglo's most popular products. (Photo: Iglo Group/FIS)
Iglo Group on sale for EUR 3 bln
(UNITED KINGDOM, 3/27/2012)
Iglo Group will be put up for sale for almost EUR 3 billion. The owner of the Birds Eye frozen food brand and the Findus brand in Italy, Europe's largest frozen food company has chosen Credit Suisse to initiate an auction.
The move follows a host of approaches made to Iglo's private equity owner, Permira, which purchased the business from Unilever in 2006 for EUR 1.7 billion.
The sale of Iglo, the company that invented the frozen fish finger, is expected to draw interest from buy-out rivals such as Blackstone, BC Partners and Cinven, as well as from East Asian and Indian companies which have pursued various European consumer businesses -- in particular from China's Bright Food.
Iglo may go for as much as EUR 2.9 billion, Bloomberg News reports.
However, bankers have warned that any disposal will be tricky to work out and think Permira will consider a dual-track approach of sale and initial public offering, according to Financial Times.
Frozen food has been losing popularity with many European consumers, but Permira has nevertheless driven annual sales up by 2 per cent, and the business is expected to achieve a core (EBITDA) profit of more than EUR 320 million in 2011.
Permira is looking to return cash to investors as it seeks EUR 6.5 billion for a new buyout fund.
Permira has considered a possible float and decided that it would get a better multiple of around 9 times core earnings (EBITDA) from a sale against just 7.0-7.5 times in a listing as a medium-sized European food company, according to sources.
"There is a concern Permira would not get a good multiple in a flotation, so the best process is to look for an outright sale, but it could be a struggle to sell this business as it is fairly large," said one source, Reuters reports.
By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
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