United Biscuits, the biscuits and snacks manufacturer with 7,500 staff at sites in Liverpool, Leicester, Rotherham, Ashby, Carlisle and Manchester, is to be acquired by a consortium of private equity firms PAI and Blackstone for £1.6bn.
United Biscuits is the number one player in the UK biscuit market with well-known household brands such as McVitie's, go ahead! and Jacob's. United Biscuits is also the number two business in the biscuit markets in France and Belgium, joint number one in the Netherlands, the number two in the UK bagged snacks market and UK cake market and the number one in the UK branded nuts market. Malcolm Ritchie, Chief Executive, says "Blackstone has a successful track record of owning and developing companies such as UB and I believe the Company will benefit from their involvement. I am delighted that PAI has decided to remain a shareholder and participate in the next phase of the company's development and growth. I would also like to thank both Cinven and MidOcean, our departing shareholders, for their support and valued advice over the past six years. We delivered a strong half year result and we continue to see opportunities to further develop our key brands in all sectors."
