Get that bread: Baking giant picked up in yet another London take-private
Finsbury Food Group, the baker behind a raft of own-brand supermarket products and the maker of Thornton’s cakes, is set to go private after accepting a bid from an Isle of Man-based fund manager.
It is the latest planned take-private on the London Stock Exchange, with small- and mid-cap firms disappearing at the fastest rate in living memory.
DBAY, which has offices in Douglas and London, has acquired shares in Finsbury Food since August of last year.
The deal represents a more than 20 per cent premium on recent closing prices and around a 50 per cent uplift on where shares were when DBAY began building its stake.
The fund managers believes Finsbury requires a more aggressive acquisition strategy to grow the business – and “the current turbulence in quoted equity markets substantially inhibit its ability to pursue these growth opportunities.”
DBAY also said that the firm’s limited liquidity further strengthens the case for private ownership.
Peter Baker, Non-Executive Chairman of Finsbury, said “Finsbury has a successful track record under the leadership of the current management team of delivering sustainable, profitable organic growth along with strategic, targeted acquisitions.
“For the next phase of the Finsbury Group’s development the business will need to pursue strategic, transformational M&A to achieve the scale required to be successful in an increasingly competitive and demanding market place,” he added.
Oppenheimer advised Finsbury on the transaction which is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of this year.