PREMIER FOODS confirmed yesterday that it would bid for United Biscuits (UB), Britain’s biggest biscuit maker, in an auction that could put a value of £1.7 billion on the company.
Premier, whose brands include Branston Pickle and Angel Delight, is thought to be bidding in partnership with the private equity firms Lion Capital and NPM Capital.
The food company is believed to be competing against Blackstone, the American buyout group, in the auction, which is due to close tomorrow. UB makes McVitie’s biscuits and Jaffa Cakes, two of the top five biscuit brands in the UK.
Premier’s move comes a month after it acquired Campbell Soup. The company said in a statement: “While Premier currently intends to make such an offer in the near future, there can be no certainty that this will result in a transaction.”
Blackstone has made no secret of its interest in European food and drinks businesses. Last year it acquired the European drinks business of Cadbury Schweppes and last month it lost out to Permira in the bidding for the Birds Eye frozen food brands, which were sold by Unilever. Blackstone had been bidding with CapVest, which already owns a frozen food compnay.
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UB was taken private six years ago by a group of private equity partnerships. It is now owned by Cinven, MidOcean Partners and PAI.
Premier said in July that it was in the early stage of evaluating the possible acquisition of the UK and Irish division of UB. It is believed that the food company is looking to finance the deal largely by issuing debt rather than equity.