Aryzta sells pizza unit in North America even as Elliott places $890m bid

Aryzta has divested its take-and-bake pizza business in North America as US hedge fund Elliott Management made a €734m ($890m) offer for the Swiss-Irish food group.

The offer made by Elliott Management is approximately 10% higher than Friday’s closing price.

Responding to Elliott’s offer, Aryzta said: “The board of directors will carefully consider the offer in accordance with its fiduciary duties and processes in due time.”

Aryzta is set to hold its annual general meeting on 15 December.

Aryzta sold the North American pizza business to Great Kitchens Food Company, a newly formed portfolio company of Brynwood Partners VIII, for an undisclosed amount.

The divesture of the North American take-and-bake pizza business is part of the debt-ridden European bakery company’s restructuring plan.

Aryzta’s two members of the executive committee, Tony Murphy, chief people officer, and John Heffernan, president and chief commercial officer of Aryzta North America, leave the company as part of these restructuring plans.

Brynwood Partners president, CFO and COO Ian MacTaggart said: “On behalf of Brynwood Partners, I would like to sincerely thank the Aryzta team for being such great partners on this carveout. This is the first deal we have done together, and we look forward to continuing our relationship.”

With this acquisition, Brynwood Partners now owns 56 brands from 21 different corporate sellers.

For this deal, BMO Capital Markets served as the investment adviser to Aryzta.

Brynwood has appointed Admir Basic as Great Kitchens’ president and chief commercial officer, who previously worked for Aryzta.

Brynwood Partners VIII added that Great Kitchens will be headquartered in Romeoville, Illinois, and continue to operate a 165,000ft² crust manufacturing facility in Chicago Heights and a 155,000ft² topping plant in Romeoville.

The two facilities currently have a workforce of approximately 700 employees.

Brynwood Partners chairman and CEO Henk Hartong said: “We are thrilled to announce the creation of Great Kitchens.

“We are excited to return to the private-label pizza space with this new investment. Our prior investment in the private label frozen pizza space with Richelieu Foods was very successful and we are confident in the prospects for Great Kitchens.”