Italian buyout house Investindustrial is said to be in exclusive talks to buy TreeHouse Food’s meal-prep unit at a $1.3bn valuation, Bloomberg reported, quoting people familiar with the matter.
Illinois-based TreeHouse said last year that it would launch a review, including exploring the sale of the meal-prep unit to focus on the higher-growth snack and beverage businesses.
The company’s share price dropped 37% in the twelve months leading to May when activist investor Jana Partners got a seat on its board. It then bounced 33% giving the company a $2.3bn valuation.
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Investindustrial exited sintered stone specialist Neolith to CVC in April after holding it for three years.
Last year, it sealed one of Europe’s largest PE exits of the year with the sale of Polynt-Reichhold back to Black Diamond-backed holding company Speciality Chemicals International.
Investindustrial closed its seventh flagship fund on its €3.75bn hard cap in December 2019.
It teamed with sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp and Italian bank UniCredit in 2020 to launch a new fund aiming to help Italian businesses expand to China.
Investindustrial is the sole investment manager of the new fund, and will make deals alongside Investindustrial VII, predominantly in leading Italian companies with Chinese development opportunity.
Source: AltAssets
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