Yahoo Finance 3i Revival Continues With Tommee Tippee Sale
Britain's oldest private equity group is set to continue its revival with a £275m sale of the parent of Tommee Tippee, one of the country's most prominent manufacturers of baby products.
Sky News understands that 3i has appointed Baird, the investment bank, to handle an auction of Mayborn Group, which it has owned since taking it private in 2006.
A formal sale process is expected to begin shortly, with a return to the stock market seen as a less likely alternative.
Mayborn is understood to be valued by 3i at roughly £275m including debt, with a number of unsolicited approaches said to have been made by potential bidders in recent months.
Sources said that trade buyers in Asia and the US, as well as other private equity firms, were expected to be sounded out as part of the auction process.
Mayborn has seen its profits more than double under 3i's ownership, thanks partly to a string of innovative products such as its Perfect Prep machine to assist parents when they are about to feed their babies.
Nearly two-thirds of Mayborn's revenues now come from overseas, compared with 40% three years ago.
The company is chaired by Paul Mason, a retail veteran who also chairs Cath Kidston and who previously worked at Asda, Somerfield and Levi-Strauss.
He recently stepped down as chairman of New Look, the fashion retailer, following its £2bn takeover by Brait, a South African investment vehicle.
A successful sale would continue the revival of 3i under Simon Borrows, its chief executive for the last three years.
When Mr Borrows took over, the group was heavily indebted and had a significant backlog of under performing companies in its portfolio that it was struggling to offload.
The company had also been under siege from an activist investor and was touted as a takeover target.
Since then, it has slashed the number of companies it invests in, culled jobs and closed offices in countries deemed peripheral to its core business.
Other companies in 3i's portfolio include Agent Provocateur, the lingerie brand, and Hobbs, the fashion retailer.
3i and Mayborn declined to comment on Thursday.
