Iceland founder lines up banks to help bid effort
ICELANDIC banks Landsbanki and Glitnir have helped Malcolm Walker and other execs beat private equity firms to exclusive talks to buy Iceland Foods, a deal that values the retailer he founded at £1.55bn.
The two banks are said to be providing Walker with a £250m loan. That makes his offer more valuable and helped beat bids from Bain and BC Partners.
Though nothing has been decided, lenders in contention for Walker’s loans to fund the remainder include UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche, Nomura and Société Générale, banking sources said.
Blackstone GSO, the credit arm of Blackstone Group, is likely to provide mezzanine debt if this is in the final structure, the sources said.
Walker aims to finalise his financing package over the next few weeks.