Chinese bidder eyes United Biscuits

A CHINESE food business is understood to be in the running to buy United Biscuits.

United, which runs the McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes factory in Manchester and three other sites in the North West, has been on the market for several months.

Its owners, the private equity firms Blackstone Group and PAI Partners, were planning an auction of the business but have reportedly entered into exclusive negotiations with Bright Food of Shanghai.

The four-year-old conglomerate has 3,300 shops and is weighing up a possible £2bn deal. Blackstone and PAI acquired the business for £1.6bn in 2006.

United instructed investment bankers to test the market for a sale in July. Campbell Soup and Kraft expressed an early interest but some potential bidders were said to be put off by United’s lack of market share outside Europe.

Bright Food, which has sales of £4.3bn, also has interests in property and tourism.