Nomad buys Permira’s Iglo in €2.6bn deal

The deal was valued at €2.6bn, which represents around 8.5x Iglo's EBITDA. Following the deal, Permira will retain a 9% holding in the company.

Nomad was set up by Martin Franklin, previously executive chairman of Jarden, and Noam Gottesman, co-founder of GLG Partners and CEO of Toms Capital.

Previous funding
This most recent deal follows several attempts by Permira to offload the company.
Permira acquired Birds Eye Frozen Foods Iglo in November 2006 via its Permira Europe III fund, for €1.7bn from former parent Unilever. At the time of the acquisition, the company was turning over €1.23bn, with EBITDA of €174m, and employed 3,000 people.

In July 2010, Permira supported the company's acquisition of Findus Italy, also from Unilever, in a deal worth €805m.

Two years later, Permira considered a €500m refinancing of Iglo after its sale process had fallen through – plans were quickly dropped as the cost was deemed too expensive.

Company
Iglo, which is headquartered in the UK and has operations in Germany and Italy, distributes frozen food across Europe. The company's core brands are Birds Eye, Findus (in Italy) and Iglo. 

The company employs 2,800 people. In 2014, Iglo generated revenues of €1.5bn and EBITDA of €306m.

People
Iglo CEO Elio Leoni Sceti is due to step down in June but will remain as non-executive director. Cheryl Potter is head of Permira's gobal consumer team.

Advisers
Vendor - Centerview Partners (M&A); Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Legal); Clifford Chance (Legal).
Equity - Barclays (M&A): UBS Investment Bank (M&A); Greenberg Traurig (Legal).

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• Exits
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• UK / Ireland
• Permira
• Unq2015May