Sale or IPO
United Biscuits’ owners, investment funds Blackstone and PAI Partners, have had several talks with potential buyers these past few weeks, but apparently, they have now decided that there is more money to be gained from an IPO.
To keep both options open, the company is preparing an IPO while it is still talking to possible interested United Biscuits buyers. This should ensure that Blackstone and PAI Partners can choose the most lucrative path to get rid of the company.
They bought United Biscuits in 2006 for 1.6 billion pounds (2.02 billion euro) and it had almost sold it to Chinese Bright Food Group, but the deal fell through in the end. Delacre, a cookie brand, joined the British group in 1998 and managed a 1.1 billion pound (1.38 billion euro) turnover last year.
