UK John West owner MWBrands “on the block”
US investment group Trilantic Capital is understood to have put its European seafood unit, MWBrands, up for sale.
The firm’s interests include UK tuna brand John West, French business Petit Navire and Italian operations Mareblu. The company is not related to Australia’s John West, which is wholly owned by Simplot.
The group also has seafood processing facilities in Ghana, The Seychelles, Douarnenez, France and Peniche, Portugal.
The Liverpool-based John West business is said to be up for sale at GBP400m (US$612m).
Owned by MWBrands since 2006, it is being put up for sale by Trilantic Capital, the former Lehman Brothers private equity business, the Liverpool Daily Post reported today (19 April).
just-food reported earlier this month that Trilantic was mulling the sale. UBS was signed up to provide an advisory role in the operation.
Trilantic bought the business from HJ Heinz in 2006 for EUR425m (US$572.4m).
It is understood the sale of the Liverpool-based company will start during the next few weeks.
Trilantic, MWBrands and John West were not available for comment at time of press.
just-food is the world’s leading portal for the global pre-packaged food and retail industries. Its daily mix of breaking news, views, analysis and research serves over 100,000 food executives each month. http://www.just-food.com/
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