Bankers are working on debt financing packages of up to £600m to back a potential sale of PizzaExpress, according to Reuters.
The newswire quotes “banking sources” saying that the potential £1bn sale of PizzaExpress has attracted interest from a number of potential buyers eager for deals after a lack of M&A so far this year. It says two private equity firms and one trade buyer are expected to have made it through to the final round of an auction process on 26 June.
According to Reuters, sources suggest that bankers are considering leveraged loans and high yield bonds, fully denominated in sterling, to back a buyout totalling 5.5-6 times PizzaExpress’ EBITDA of c£90-100m.
“There is enough capacity in the sterling market for a deal of this size at the moment,” one of the banking sources told Reuters.
