Tim Tam's Arnott maker is preparing to get $ 3 billion

The US investment firm KKR & Co is preparing to buy out the famed Australian maker of Arnott cookies for more than 3 billion Australian dollars ($ 3.1 billion New Zealand).

L & # 39; age and The Sydney Morning Herald confirmed that KKR had become the best bidder at the conclusion of a long auction process led by its American owners, Campbell's Soup, which lasted almost a year. This is the second multi-billion dollar trade deal for the country's consumer sector in less than a week.

Campbell owns Arnott through its international division, which it first offered for sale in August.

Arnott's is the maker of a number of popular snacks, including Tim Tams and Shapes. The company was bought by Campbell in 1997.

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In a statement, a spokeswoman for Campbell International said the company "had not been sold."

"The process of selling Arnott and the rest of our international operations is underway," she said.

A number of potential candidates glanced at Arnott after Campbell put him on the table last year, including Kraft Heinz and Mondelez.

The last two companies would be the Australian private equity group Pacific Equity Partners and KKR.

Campbell's International accounted for approximately 19% of the company's net sales during the 2018 fiscal year, and a profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 202 million US dollars.

Earlier this year, Campbell's sold its Danish brand Kelsen Group to Ferrero for 300 million US dollars.

Arnott's Biscuits Holdings, the Australian owned Campbell's company that manufactures its products, recorded a business turnover of AUD 1.04 billion for fiscal year 2018 and a profit of net of A $ 76.5 million, up 14% year-on-year.

The company had badets of 1.64 billion Australian dollars and had contracted borrowings of 470 million Australian dollars, but repaid the outstanding amount after the announcement of the intention to sell of Campbell's, by obtaining a $ 400 million syndicated credit agreement from Citibank to facilitate repayment.

Campbell's loaned A $ 248.6 million to the company at the beginning of the 2018 fiscal year, which Arnott's repaid.

If the deal were to be concluded, it would be far from the first time that an American giant has caught an icon of Australian food.

Vegemite's popular yeast yeast was placed under the control of Mondelez in 2012, before being purchased by the Australian dairy company Bega for A $ 460 million in 2017.

The sale of Arnott's comes after the country's largest brewer, Carlton & United, was sold by its European owner Anheuser-Busch InBev to the Japanese company Asahi for 16 billion Australian dollars earlier this year. week.