IAWS ups stake in Swiss food firm
The company told the stock exchange last night it had bought a further 10.6% stake in Hiestand Holdings, bringing its total shareholding to 32%.
Chief executive Owen Killian said: “Hiestand has proved to be an excellent investment for IAWS and the continued strong performance of the company has encouraged us to raise our shareholding.”
But he ruled out a swoop for even more shares in the company, saying “We have no plans to further increase the level of this investment.”
IAWS originally took a 22% stake in Hiestand in 2003 at a cost of €26m.
Hiestand has manufacturing and distribution operations in Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Austria, Britain and Japan.
It specialises in frozen bakery goods.
The move comes less than a year after IAWS spent €130m on Groupe Hubert, a French specialist foods business.
