Scents and flavours company to buy French food ingredient maker
Ardian said yesterday that the transaction valued Diana Group at around €1.3bn.
The deal still needs approval by employee representatives and competition watchdogs.
Symrise said on Saturday that the acquisition, funded through a mixture of debt and equity, should be fully earnings-per-share-accretive from 2015 onwards.
It said the deal gave Diana Group an “attractive valuation” of around 14 times 2013 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda).
Reuters last month reported that Diana Group had attracted bids worth more than €1.2bn including debt from Symrise and Japan’s Ajinomoto.
The sources said buyout firms CVC Capital Partners, Eurazeo and Pamplona were also in the race for the company.
Diana, a leading supplier to the nutrition, food, pet food, aquaculture and cosmetics industries, is based in Vannes in western France.
Ardian became Diana’s main shareholder in 2007 to help it expand across Asia, the United States and Eastern Europe. Since then, staff and revenue have nearly doubled — Diana had 2,000 employees in 23 countries and sales of €451 million last year.
Symrise said the deal would enable it to expand its position in the flavour and nutrition markets and broaden its activities into the pet food markets.
