Shanghai / CN. (div) Bright Food Group Co. Limited is in exclusive talks about a possible purchase of United Kingdom´s snacks and cookies maker United Biscuits (UB), the Financial Times wrote and other people familiar with the matter said. The acquisition, if it goes ahead, could be valued at more than two billion GBP or about 3,2 billion USD. The two private equity giants Blackstone Group and PAI Partners bought the maker of McVitie´s biscuits and Jacob´s cream crackers for 1,6 billion GBP in late 2006. Chinese Bright Food is a state-controlled group based in Shanghai. In July Blackstone and PAI Partners hired Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan to undertake a strategic review of UB. The company, based in Hayes (UK), is best positioned in Western Europe, which generates the bulk of its revenue, but has relatively little exposure to faster-growing emerging markets. Interest from global food companies in bidding for UB has been muted.
About: Bright Food Group Co. Limited established in 2006, is a large conglomerate in China´s food industry with developing food industry chain as its core industry and primary, secondary and tertiary industries integrated. It aims at developing core industries, including modern urban agriculture dominated by seed breeding, eco-agriculture and standard agriculture, modern urban industry majoring in agricultural products and food processing, and modern service industry which mainly relying on distribution and logistics. Bright Food also focuses on developing the supporting industries covering real estate, taxi, brand agency service and tourism. In 2006, the sales revenue of the company amounted to 45 billion Renminbi Yuan (CNY). The company owns four listed companies, which are: Bright Dairy + Food Co. Limited, Shanghai First Provisions Store Co. Limited, Shanghai Maling Aquarius Co. Limited and Shanghai Haibo Co. Limited. The company operates more than 3’300 retail stores across China. Maybe this information, the group published on brightfood.com, is out of date …
Related. United Biscuits to be put up for sale (see b:eu on 2010-07-23).
