Investment firm KKR is mulling the sale of The Arnott’s Group’s Asian arm, which has attracted the interest from CVC Capital Partners among others, according to the Australian Financial Review.
KKR’s adviser UBS reportedly began reaching out to interested parties in April. The sale comes five years after the firm bought Arnott’s from Campbell’s Soup, along with the latter’s international division, for $3.2 billion.
Arnott’s Asian arm includes Asia-based pasta sauce, dry pasta and soup brands such as Prego and Kimball, as well as the Malaysian manufacturing operations.
The auction excludes the company’s core Australian biscuits business, which owns Tim Tams and Shapes among others.
Sources told the AFR that CVC Capital Partners is among the parties that are preparing a first-round bid.
CVC is one of the big private equity players globally, with $356 billion in assets under management across its private equity, secondaries and credit strategies.
