Premier Foods Disposes of Meat-free Business for £205 Million
Premier Foods is selling its meat-free business, which manufactures and sells products under the Quorn and Cauldron brands, to Exponent Private Equity and Intermediate Capital Group for £205m. The business being sold is expected to report sales of £128.8m and EBITDA of £19.3m in the year to 31st December 2010. The price represents a multiple of 10.6 times EBITDA.
The sale is in line with Premier’s financial strategy to reduce debt. The deal will reduce Premier’s average debt/EBITDA ratios by around 0.35x, making a significant contribution toward reaching its target leverage ratio.
“We are pleased to have concluded this sale agreement. It makes a significant contribution to reducing our debt. Having also recently completed the restructuring of our swaps portfolio, this deal represents another step along the road to achieving a capital structure which we believe will be more attractive to investors,” says Robert Schofield, chief executive of Premier Foods. “It will also enable the business to focus further on building our current portfolio of great British brands.”
Premier Foods acquired its meat-free business in 2005 through the acquisitions of Marlow Foods (including Quorn) and Cauldron Foods.
