Bright Food linked to Manassen Foods bid

CHAMP took a 51% holding in Manassen five years ago, with the remaining shares held by company management. It was reported in February that the private equity firm was looking to take Manassen public through a $354 million offering, but Australia's weak capital markets have seen numerous firms abandon IPO plans.

Shanghai-based Bright Food is keen to expand into new markets and has been linked to a string of deals in the last year or so, although it has not found overseas M&A easy.

It was reported earlier this month that the company was considering a bid for Australia's Treasury Wine Estates, the brand that was spun off by beer maker Foster's Group. Treasury, which owns the Lindemans, Rosemount, Penfolds and Wolf Blass brands, was put up for sale last September, attracting interest from several private equity firms.

In February, Bright Food was the highest bidder for PAI Partners' 50% stake in yogurt maker Yoplait, valuing the entire company at $2.3 billion. However, US-based General Mills ended up acquiring the stake for an enterprise valuation of $2.2 billion.

Two more attempted acquisitions are also said to have fallen flat. Last year it was reported that talks over a $3.1 billion bid for Britain's United Biscuits, which Blackstone and PAI Partners acquired for approximately $2.5 billion in 2006, came to a standstill within a month. And in July, Bright Food lost the battle for CSR's sugar and bioethanol business Sucrogen to Singapore's Wilmar International.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Consumer
• Greater China
• Australasia
• CHAMP Private Equity
• KKR
• TPG Capital
• Cerberus Capital Management
• The Blackstone Group