The Sunday Telegraph newspaper in the UK reported over the weekend that the private equity owners of Birds Eye and United Biscuits (UB) are considering listing the companies on the London Stock Exchange. Neither company has commented on the story as of July 21.
There has been speculation that Birds Eye, the iconic frozen food brand acquired by Permira from Unilever in 2006 for £l.2 billion, has been up for sale for some time. United Biscuits, which was formerly a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, was delisted after going private in December of 2006 following its acquisition by a consortium of the Blackstone Group and PAI Partners.
Birds Eye is a member of the Iglo Group, which is regarded as Europe’s largest frozen brand food producer. Employing 2,500 persons (approximately 1,800 in Britain), it runs operations in 11 countries and rang up sales of £1.3 billion last year. According to the Telegraph article: “It is keen to offload the company after eight years of ownership – private equity firms typically like to hold investments for between three and five years – and one failed attempt at a sale.”
Last fall Iglo launched a 100 million euro marketing campaign designed to portray its Birds Eye, Findus and Iglo frozen food brands as more sophisticated and adult oriented. The company also focused on targeting the breakfast and snack food markets.
Spearheading the drive, which included enhanced social media, mobile marketing and digital advertising initiatives, was Margaret Jobling. She recently resigned the position, however, to become the first head of brand marketing at British Gas.
Replacing Jobling at Birds Eye is Steve Chantry, whose background at Mondelez International included the role of head of marketing for core chocolate and Cadbury in Australia. He will work with a £16 million marketing budget to boost Birds Eye frozen food sales in the UK during 2014.
