Private equity firm sells leading frozen food company for €1.2bn

CAPVEST, the British-based specialistprivate equity firm rumoured to have been in the bidding to buy Breeo Foods, sold to Kerry Group for €165m, has announced the sale of the Foodvest Group to Lion Capital for a sum of over €1.26 billion.

Foodvest’s leadership of the frozen food category in its core markets is achieved through two primary business segments which include Young’s and Findus.

The group is a large frozen food manufacturer in Europe, with dominant positions in Britain, Scandinavia and France. It is also growing in eastern Europe.

The company is the leading producer of chilled seafood products in Britain.

The transaction is expected to be completed in September 2008.

CapVest was co-founded by Randy Shure and Irishman Seamus Fitzpatrick in 1999.

It is the majority shareholder in Ireland’s Mater Private Hospital and includes a range of Irish institutional and Irish-based high net worth clients, with NCB Stockbrokers among its investor base who had about €60m invested in the group in 2006.

Findus is the leading frozen food manufacturer in Scandinavia.

It is also a leading manufacturer in France, where it enjoys the strongest recognition of any frozen food brand.

Prior to founding CapVest, Mr Fitzpatrick helped build BT Capital Partners in London together with Randy Shure, the other co-founder of CapVest.

Mr Fitzpatrick previously worked for JP Morgan Capital Partners in New York and in Morgan Stanley’s Mergers and Acquisitions department in London.

The group was linked to the bidding for Breeo, part of Reox Holdings, which was sold to Kerry Group for €165m last March.

The sale has been under scrutiny by the Competition Authority since then.

A spokesman for Breeo said there was nothing unusual in the fact that the authority has not yet cleared the deal.

Breeo Foods’ brands, including Dairygold, Galtee, Shaws, Roscrea, Mitchelstown, Calvita and Sno, and are marketed through all retail channels in Ireland including multiple retail, symbol group and food-to-go outlets.