Ready meal group Bakkavor eyes IPO
London-based ready meal provider Bakkavor intends to proceed with an initial public offering so it could begin trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange.
With the UK as its core market and Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and Tesco among its clients, Bakkavor said it is planning to list at least 25% of its shares on the London Stock Exchange in early November as part of an effort to raise £100m.
In addition to the IPO, London-headquartered Bakkavor said it would sell a portion of its shares to US hedge fund Baupost and to its co-founders Agust and Lydur Gudmundsson.
The deal was projected to see the firm valued at as much as £1.5bn with proceeds being used to reduce Bakkavor's leveraging, as well as seeing it make further investments into the business.
Bakkavor, which started in 1986 as a cod roe processor and exporter before the Icelandic brothers expanded the business, generated £1.8bn in revenue in its last financial year, culminating in a pre-tax profit of £63.1m.
HSBC and Morgan Stanley are leading the IPO, with Barclays, Citigroup, Rabobank and Peel Hunt also working on the deal.