Finsbury Food Group set to be acquired in £143.4m deal

Directors of the bakery business have agreed to a £143.4m takeover offer from Frisbee Bidco, which will now be voted on by the Finsbury shareholders.

The Finsbury board has unanimously decided to recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the deal.

Frisbee Bidco is owned by funds managed by asset management firm DBAY Advisors and was formed for the purpose of this acquisition.

Headquartered in Cardiff and operating across the UK and Europe, Finsbury manufactures a range of baked products including cakes and bread, and supplies the retail and foodservice markets.

Finsbury will ‘thrive under new stewardship’

Peter Baker, non-executive chairman of Finsbury, said that the group’s board had “carefully reviewed​” the offer prior to recommending it to shareholders.

“It provides shareholders with an accelerated, de-risked opportunity to realise their investment in full and in cash​,” he explained.

Looking to the businesses future, Baker said that its track record of delivering “profitable growth​” had prepared Finsbury well for the next stage in its development.

"I am confident that Finsbury will thrive under DBAY's stewardship in the private market, with access to DBAY's investment and operational support to pursue the current strategy of scaling Finsbury's buy-and-build M&A in the future​,” Baker concluded.

Finsbury management team ‘impressive’

Meanwhile, DBAY chief executive Alexander Paiusco said that the asset management firm was pleased to have reached an agreement with the Finsbury board.

"We have been supportive shareholders of the business for over a year and have been impressed with the management team during our ownership, but we strongly believe Finsbury would benefit from transformational M&A including international expansion and this would be better achieved in private ownership without the barrier of the current listing​,” Paiusco added.

“We look forward to working with Finsbury's management and employees to accelerate Finsbury's strategy and unlock the long-term value in Finsbury for all stakeholders​."

In other news, Heineken UK has acquired a stake in RTD cocktail brand SERVED​​.