Aryzta raises €99m for US buyouts

ARYZTA, the Irish-Swiss bakery group, has successfully raised $120 million (€99.3m) to partly fund the two acquisitions it announced earlier this week.

The Dublin and Zurich-headquartered group, which came into being in 2008 through the merger of IAWS and Hiestand, announced the acquisition of two US-based companies – Fresh Start Bakeries (FSB) and pizza supplier, Great Kitchens – for a combined $1.08 billion last Tuesday. It originally said that up to $140m of the $900m being spent on FSB could be paid in Aryzta shares.

However, in the wake of yesterday’s share placing round, the company has said that it will now pay $880m in cash for FSB and meet the remainder of the consideration, $20m, in shares.