Intersnack Exploring Bid For United Biscuits - Source

By Eyk Henning and Jessica Hodgson

LONDON--Intersnack Group GmBH & Co., a privately held German company, is exploring a bid for the savoury snacks unit of United Biscuits, the Hayes, England based food company, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

Western Germany-based Intersnack is one of Europe's largest makers of savoury snacks with annual sales of 1.5 billion euros ($1.94 billion) and around 6,000 employees.

United Biscuits, maker of Hula Hoops and Twiglets, which is owned by private equity groups Blackstone Group (BX) and PAI Partners, recently sent sale memoranda out to a number of potential buyers, the person said. Although the person didn't identify the recipients, they are likely to include many European consumer-focused private equity groups, U.S. food groups including Kellogg Co. (K) and Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) and possibly some Chinese food groups such as Hanghzou Wahaha Group. Credit Suisse (CS) is running the sale.

PAI declined to comment, Blackstone couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Credit Suisse earlier this year completed a process of splitting United Biscuits into two parts, the savoury snacks business and a larger rump business that houses brands including Jaffa Cakes and Jacob's biscuits, a prelude to the savoury snacks sale. It's unclear what United Biscuits plans to do with the rump biscuits business.

Splitting the group was a reaction to an earlier, failed sale process run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) almost two years ago.

-Write to Jessica Hodgson at [e-mail]

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