Lion Capital Set To Hold onto Findus Group after Restructuring - Sources
07/11/2012| 11:48am US/Eastern
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By Marietta Cauchi
LONDON--Lion Capital is set to hang onto Findus Group, having fended off rival buyout firm Triton and concluded a restructuring deal with its junior lenders Highbridge Capital and JPMorgan Chase (>> JPMorgan Chase & Co.), people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday.
Triton, which focuses on investments in Northern Europe, had approached the company's senior lenders, including Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (>> Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc) and Societe Generale SA (>> Societe Generale SA), with an offer to buy Findus for around 300 million pounds ($465 million).
The banks rejected the offer and are set to approve an alternative plan that involves Lion Capital injecting a further GBP150 million into the business alongside other investors including mezzanine holders Highbridge and JPMorgan, the people added.
Following the deal--which will likely be finalized by the end of the month--Highbridge, JPMorgan and Lion Capital will each hold one-third of the company's equity. Findus will have an enterprise value of around GBP850 million, including about GBP380 million debt.
Lion Capital bought Findus, which has operations in the Nordics, France and the U.K., for around GBP1.1 billion in 2008. The buyout firm was pursuing a breakup and sale of the company last year, but abandoned this after talks to sell its most profitable unit in the Nordics collapsed.
Write to Marietta Cauchi at marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
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