Nomad Foods close to buying continental European business of Findus for $780 mn

Nomad Foods Ltd is close to buying the continental European business operations of frozen food maker Findus Group in a deal valued at just over £500 million ($780 million), the Financial Times yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Nomad, founded in 2013 by Noam Gottesman and Martin Franklin, is expected to pay £400 million in cash and offer 8.4 million shares for the deal to Findus' private equity owners Lion Capital, JPMorgan Chase and Highbridge Capital.

The sale includes Findus Nordic (including Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) and Findus Southern Europe (including France, Spain and Belgium) but not Young's Seafood Limited, Findus Group's leading fish and seafood company in the UK.

Nomad, which recently purchased Iglo Foods for €2.79 billion, (See: Nomad Holdings to buy Europe's biggest frozen foods company Iglo Foods for $2.79 bn)  is expected to announce a deal today, the report said.

Findus is one of Europe's largest frozen food and seafood companies with leading brands, 6,000 employees and over £1 billion turnover.

Operationally decentralised into 3 regional clusters, Findus is the parent company of Findus in the Nordics, Young's Seafood Limited in the UK and Findus in Southern Europe.

Findus is a leader in frozen foods in the Nordics, a leading frozen and chilled seafood company in the UK and a fast growing frozen food business in Southern Europe.

In the Nordics, Findus is an iconic brand selling frozen food across all major categories of fish, vegetables, meals and bakery.

In the UK, Young's Seafood has a market leading position in branded seafood through the Young's brand and supplies many major UK retailers with private label seafood, while in Southern Europe, Findus is the market leader in frozen food in France and the market leader in frozen vegetables in Spain.

Findus is also the market leader in frozen food in France and the market leader in frozen vegetables in Spain.