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Iglo Group, the company behind the Birds Eye brand, is to be sold by private equity house Permira to Nomad Foods for £1.9 billion ($2.88 billion).
Permira has reportedly previously struggled to sell the company it bought from consumer goods giant Unilever for €1.76 billion ($1.91 billion) in 2006.
US firm Nomad Holdings, which will now change its name to Nomad Foods, was created last August by entrepeneurs Martin E Franklin and Noam Gottesman in a bid to develop a global consumer brands business.
“For a US dollar-denominated company like ours, it is not a bad time to invest in Europe”, commented Mr Franklin, who is also a chair of Jarden, a US consumer business.
“We took a highly disciplined approach to evaluating opportunities for Nomad’s initial investment. During this process it was abundantly clear that Iglo was a natural fit. This is a well-run business that has cemented itself as a leader in an attractive yet highly fragmented sector, which paves the way for both organic and inorganic growth opportunities”.
Iglo is Europe’s biggest frozen food producer with about 30% share of the European frozen food market. It reported revenues of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) and earnings of €306 million ($332 million) in 2014.
Source: The Guardian / The Telegraph / The Financial Times
