UK’s PZ Cussons to sell Greek food subsidiary Minerva

UK-based consumer products group PZ Cussons has agreed to divest its Greek food subsidiary Minerva to Mirties Enterprises, a company controlled by Diorama Investments SICAR.

Established in 1904, Minerva has been offering a wide range of products, including olive oil, spreads, vinegar and cheese categories. It claims to be the first company to offer packaged olive oil in Greece.

PZ Cussons will sell 100% of the share capital of its Greek subsidiary, Minerva Edible Oils and Food Enterprises, for consideration of £41m in cash, which is payable upon completion the deal.

The proceeds from the divestiture will be used by PZ Cussons to reduce existing debt in the business and invest in its core brands.

Completion of the deal is expected to take place over the next few weeks after arrangements of the funds by the purchaser from its financing bank.

Additionally, PZ Cussons has signed a deal to sell its Polish personal care brand Luksja and associated inventory to Athens-based personal care company, Sarantis Group.

PZ Cussons CEO Alex Kanellis said: “The proposed sale of Minerva and Luksja forms part of PZ Cussons’ new strategy to ‘focus, scale and accelerate’, announced along with our final FY19 results on 23 July 2019.

“The sale of Minerva provides additional proceeds to continue to drive our strategy forward. Deca is an excellent partner for Minerva’s future growth prospects and I would like to thank the Minerva team for their hard work and dedication during their time with us and wish them every success in the future.”