Blackstone's Pinnacle to buy Birds Eye
Friday, 20 November 2009
BANGALORE, Nov 19 (Reuters): Blackstone Group's Pinnacle Brands Corp is likely to buy US frozen vegetable company Birds Eye Foods for more than $1.3 billion, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The all-cash deal for Birds Eye, which is majority owned by private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners, will likely be announced as soon as later Thursday, the people told the paper.
Blackstone and Birds Eye could not be immediately reached for comment by the reporter outside of regular US business hours.
Last month, Birds Eye filed for an initial public offering to raise up to $350 million.
The Rochester, New York-based company said in the filing it held the top position in the frozen vegetables market with sales of $935.6 million in the fiscal year ended in June 2009.
The all-cash deal for Birds Eye, which is majority owned by private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners, will likely be announced as soon as later Thursday, the people told the paper.
Blackstone and Birds Eye could not be immediately reached for comment by the reporter outside of regular US business hours.
Last month, Birds Eye filed for an initial public offering to raise up to $350 million.
The Rochester, New York-based company said in the filing it held the top position in the frozen vegetables market with sales of $935.6 million in the fiscal year ended in June 2009.