Iglo Group, the Permira-backed owner of Birds Eye in Europe, has held a series of meetings with Pinnacle, the U.S. company that owns the American rights to the frozen food brand, about a potential GBP 5 billion tie-up.
The meetings between Martin Glenn, Iglo’s chief executive, and his opposite number at Pinnacle, Bob Gamgort, took place ahead of this Thursday’s final deadline for the sale of Iglo, which is expected to raise in the region of EUR 2.8 billion (GBP 2.4 billion).
Any deal between Iglo and Pinnacle would see the Birds Eye brand on both sides of the Atlantic reunited after 70 years of separation.
The U.S. company is owned by the private equity firm Blackstone, which is vying with a rival, BC Partners, to win the Iglo auction.
