Italy's Autogrill vies for Compass unit |
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Mon, 19 Dec 2005 10:05
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LONDON: Autogrill SpA, the Italian firm that manages the largest number of airport and highway restaurants in the world, has made a 1.4 billion-pound bid for a unit of Compass Group Plc., Select Service Partner. Autogrill, 56 per cent-owned by the Benetton family, which controls the clothing major Benetton, wants to set shop in the U.K., according to sources close to the firm.
The bid, according to the sources, is non-binding and Compass Group's adviser, Citigroup, has short-listed the Italian company for the second round.
Autogrill, which has been on a shopping spree recently, having bought Aldeasa and Altadis for around 522 million pounds, is said to be the only catering company among the six bidders in the shortlist. The others are investment and finance firms like Charterhouse, Macquarie Bank, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Texas Pacific Group and Blackstone.
Compass had been involved in a controversy recently over contracts to supply to the U.N. peacekeeping forces by one of its unit, Eurest Support Services. The company had dismissed top functionaries of Eurest after the allegations of corruption had surfaced.
Select Service Partner provides catering for roadside, railway and airport retail outlets in Britain and Europe. It owns the Moto service stations, the Upper Crest sandwich bar chain and Harry Ramsden's, the fish and chip restaurant chain.
Autogrill, a listed company in Milan, runs the Spizzico and Ciao restaurant chains and manages the coffee shop chain Starbucks outlets in the U.S.
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