UK egg producer Noble Foods has declined to comment on reports its owners are looking to sell the business.
According to The Sunday Telegraph, Peter Dean and Michael Kent have hired Rothschild to handle the sale of the business.
Private-equity firms PAI and CapVest are expected to be among interested parties to table first-round offers this week, the newspaper reported.
Noble Foods was formed in 2006 after the merger of Deans Food Group and Stonegate. In 2010, the company snapped up a majority stake in desserts business Gü, although that asset is not on the block, the paper claimed.
In September last year, Noble Foods recorded a 22% drop in pre-tax profits for the year to 30 September 2011. The firm attributed the decline in profits to a “significant surplus” of eggs in the UK that depressed prices.
A spokesperson for Noble Foods declined to comment on the reports when contacted by just-food today (8 April).
