Germany’s Intersnack close to buying UK’s KP Snacks for around $644 mn: report
05 Dec 2012
Family-run German fodds company Intersnack Knabber-Geback GmbH & Co (Intersnack) is close to finalising a deal to acquire KP Snacks, the savoury snacks unit of UK's United Biscuits, for more than £400 million ($644 million) Bloomberg yesterday reported, citing three people familiar with the discussions.
Intersnack and KP Snacks could announce a deal as early as this week, the report said.
Private equity firms Blackstone Group and PAI Partners, who had taken United Biscuits private in 2006 for £1.6 billion, had in August hired Credit Suisse to run an auction of KP Snacks, after failing to sell the whole of United Biscuits in 2010.
Chinese state-backed food company Bright Foods had considered a £2 billion deal for the acquisition of United Biscuits, the maker of Hula Hoops and Jaffa Cakes, but the talks failed over valuation.
Blackstone and PAI then split the snacks and biscuits businesses in order to sell the companies seperately.
In September, several papers reported that bidders including private- equity firms such as Permira Advisers, Warburg Pincus, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Lion Capital and CapVest were in the race to buy KP Snacks.