Wolves at the gate

27 September 2010 By Wei Gu

A Shanghai conglomerate may pay 2.5 billion pounds for the privateequity owned maker of nobbly treats such as Twiglets and Hobnobs. The price looks indulgent. But Bright Food probably cares more that the UK snackmaker will enhance its revenues, and comes without political fuss.

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Bright Food, a Chinese food group which owned by the Shanghai government, is in exclusive talks to buy United Biscuits in a deal that would give the UK snackmaker an enterprise value of almost 2.5 billion pounds, or $4 billion, according to the Financial Times.

United Biscuits makes brands including McVities biscuits, Twiglets and McCoys potato crisps. Private equity groups Blackstone and PAI Partners bought the company in 2006 for $2.5 billion, from another consortium of buyout funds which also included PAI.

Blackstone and PAI hired JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs in summer to run an auction for United Biscuits. Rothschild is acting as adviser to Bright Food, according to people close to the matter.

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