Nomad Holdings Ltd., the acquisition vehicle backed by entrepreneurs Martin E. Franklin and Noam Gottesman, said it will acquire the continental European operations of Findus Group Ltd. for 500 million pounds (€702 million), adding to its scale as a frozen-food producer.
The purchase from investors including Lion Capital and Highbridge Capital comes four months after Nomad agreed to purchase Iglo Foods Holdings Ltd., the maker of Birds Eye frozen vegetables, for 2.6 billion euros ($2.9 billion). The Findus businesss bring leading positions in France, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Nomad said in a statement Thursday.
“Having the businesses under one umbrella brings together two talented, world-class teams, enabling us to share best practices and to elevate and evolve the brand,” Nomad’s Chief Executive Officer Stefan Descheemaeker said in the statement.
The combination of Iglo and Findus will create a frozen food giant with products spanning fish fingers, peas and microwavable lasagna. Iglo is the world’s second-largest frozen- food manufacturer, with 3.3 percent of the market in 2014, according to data from Euromonitor International.
The founders of Nomad are known as dealmakers. Franklin built Florida-based Jarden Corp. into a consumer-goods empire valued at about $10.4 billion, while Gottesman co-founded hedge fund GLG Partners Inc. and sold the firm to Man Group Plc in 2010.
Nomad raised $485 million from an initial public offering in April 2014 to fund acquisitions in the food and beverage industry, data compiled by Bloomberg show. At the time of the Iglo acquisition, Nomad said it will raise about $750 million more from a private placement to institutional investors.
Nomad said it will pay 400 million pounds in cash for the Findus business, funded through cash in hand and debt. It will also issue 8.4 million shares to the seller.
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