UK food giant ABF is mulling Tilda takeover
ASSOCIATED British Foods (ABF) was reported yesterday to be mulling a bid to take over rice producer Tilda for £250m.
The British food giant, which already owns Primark and Twinings, is said to be interested in the popular rice brand, according to Sky News.
The Thakrar family, which owns Tilda, are contemplating a sale, and are understood to have appointed the Rothschild Group to manage the auctioning of the firm.
Tilda is a UK firm which started selling rice to British Asians in the early 1970s, but now successfully exports rice to india.
Braunstone Properties, Tilda’s parent companies, posted healthy turnover for 2012, rising 13.5 per cent to £120m, while profit quadrupled to £4.1m over the same period.
Associated British Foods also reported a buoyant year to the end of September, recording revenue up nine per cent from the same period in 2012, to £13.3bn, operating profit up by a 25 per cent to just over £1bn, and earnings per share up 13 per cent to £0.98.
Sky News also suggests that Spanish food firm Ebro, the world’s current largest trader of rice, may have an interest in Tilda.