Patties Foods has agreed to a $230 million takeover offer from private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP).
Patties says the deal “represents an attractive value for shareholders” and its directors have unanimously recommended they vote in favour of the offer, provided no superior proposal emerges, and following an independent review.
The PEP offer of $1.65 per share values Patties at approximately $231.8m, and members of Patties' founding Rijs family, who together own 36.6 per cent of the company, said they intended to vote in favour of the offer.
“Whilst he board remains confident in management's plans for growth and innovation in the core brands and the business is experiencing strong momentum, the scheme represents an attractive value for shareholders,” Patties chairman, Mark Smith said.
Patties, which is head-quartered in Bairnsdale, Victoria, manufactures the Patties, Herbert Adams, Four 'n Twenty and Nanna's brands, with some of these implicated in last year's hepatitis A outbreak.
Patties recently sold its Creative Gourmet business to Entyce Food Ingredients and announced plans to exit the frozen berry category altogether.
Shareholders will vote on the sale of the company at a meeting that's expected to be held in late August, with the ownership change expected to be finalised in September.
