Private equity firms Blackstone and BC Partners are planning to submit a revised offer for frozen food company Iglo, after Permira rejected their earlier EUR2.5bn bid as too low.
Blackstone and BC Partners, which are the last remaining bidders in the race for Iglo, teamed up last week to offer a final bid for the company.
By partnering together, the companies sought to share the burden of a large equity investment and put pressure on Permira to accept a lower deal price. However, Permira rejected the offer as too low, according to people familiar with the situation.
Permira is already preparing a long-term strategy for Iglo under its ownership. However, Iglo might still be divested if Blackstone and BC Partners come up with a better offer, reported Reuters.
Iglo was put up for sale in March 2012 after Permira received unsolicited expressions of interest from several companies.
Permira was expecting a sale price of around €3bn, eight or nine times the company's forecast Ebitda of €320m this year, which would make it one of the biggest private equity transactions of 2012.
The company bought Iglo from Unilever in 2006 for €1.7bn and then combined it with another frozen food group, Findus Italy, in 2010.
