Banks are lining up financing for the UK-based maker of Haagen-Dazs after a request for proposals was sent out a few weeks ago. — Bloomberg
LONDON: Ice-cream maker Froneri Ltd is seeking around €4bil (US$4.5bil) in debt to support a fund that would let co-owner PAI Partners hold onto its stake in the Nestle SA-backed joint venture and facilitate a dividend payment, according to people familiar with the matter.
Banks are lining up financing for the UK-based maker of Haagen-Dazs after a request for proposals was sent out a few weeks ago, the people said, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.
The additional commitments would lift Froneri’s total debt to about €9bil, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Froneri’s push to raise financing comes as PAI is nearing a transfer of its 50% shareholding to a new fund.
In May last year, it was reported that the buyout firm was testing investor appetite for a so-called continuation fund deal.
A transaction could value Froneri at about US$10bil, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Spokespeople for PAI, Froneri and Nestle declined to comment.
PAI is reluctant to exit Froneri as it’s among the private equity firm’s best performing holdings, according to the people.
The Froneri business currently sits in the fund PAI Strategic Partnerships. It was previously held in a flagship fund PAI Europe V.
Buyout firms have increasingly turned to continuation vehicles to deal with a backlog of unsold investments amid a slowdown in dealmaking and initial public offerings.
Sponsors use them to move assets from older funds into a new vehicle, enabling buyout firms to hold on to their portfolio companies for longer than the typical investment cycle.
As for a new debt deal, both leveraged loans and high-yield bonds – denominated in euros and US dollars – are likely to be considered, the people said.
A sell down of the financing is expected to launch to institutional investors shortly, they added.
Froneri has the equivalent of nearly €5bil in existing commitments after conducting a leveraged loan refinancing via lead banks Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc in September.
That financing package comprised a €2bil term loan B and a US$2.78bil term loan B, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Froneri is preparing to go to the market amid a spate of successful bond and loan sales in recent weeks on both sides of the Atlantic.
Issuance has cranked back into gear after coming to a halt amid tariff-fuelled volatility.
Transferring Froneri into a continuation fund may not trigger a change of control, meaning the existing debt could remain in place without having to be refinanced, the people said.
PAI bought UK-based Richmond & Roncadin Ice Cream in 2013 from Oaktree Capital Management and other investors.
In 2016, it combined that business with part of Nestle’s ice cream empire to create Froneri. — Bloomberg
