Freshfields, Taylor Wessing and Linklaters take the biscuit as Jaffa Cake maker sold to Turkish raider
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Taylor Wessing and Linklaters scored the lead mandates in the sale of United Biscuits to Turkish rival Yildiz Holding for a reported £2bn.
November 05, 2014 at 11:47 AM
2 minute read
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Taylor Wessing and Linklaters scored the lead mandates in the sale of United Biscuits to Turkish rival Yildiz Holding for a reported £2bn.
Yildiz is set to merge United Biscuits, the British snack maker behind the McVitie's, Twiglets and Jaffa Cake brands, into its own biscuit division Ulker.
The buyer is understood to have emerged victorious after a three-way auction against Kellogg's and Burton's Biscuits,
The acquisition will make Yildiz the world's third largest biscuit manufacturer, absorbing United Biscuits' 7,100 staff across its 16 manufacturing facilities, seven of which are in the UK.
Freshfields advised United Biscuits and its principal shareholders, private equity houses Blackstone and PAI Partners with a team led by corporate partner Sundeep Kapila, supported by corporate associate Chetan Sheth.
Blackstone and PAI paid around £1.7bn to acquire United Biscuits in 2006, selling off the KP Snacks brand six years later. Kapila also advised on the KP Snacks selloff, and counts Heineken's £400m acquisition of the RBS Galaxy pub estate in 2012 amongst his other experience in the food and drink sector.
London corporate partner Nick Garland led a Linklaters team representing Yildiz alongside Warsaw M&A specialist Daniel Cousens.
Taylor Wessing's core team acting for United Biscuits' management was comprised of former senior partner Martin Winter, corporate partner Emma Danks, tax partner Ann Casey and private equity associate Rachel Greenhalgh.
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