Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst
Private equity company
1999 Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst acquired Hillsdown Holdings.
Hillsdown's poultry unit, including Buxted Chicken, was closed and the brands sold off; the food business, including Hartley's Jam and Cadbury Drinking Chocolate, was renamed Premier Foods.[1]
2000 Acquired Burton's Gold Medal Biscuits, and merged it with Horizon, Hillsdown Holdings' biscuit business, [2] to form Burton's Foods
2000 Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst acquired Burton's Gold Medal Biscuits, and merged it with Horizon, Hillsdown Holdings' biscuit business, [3] to form Burton's Foods
Lyons Biscuits became part of biscuit manufacturer Burton's Foods Ltd.
2002 Bought Nestlé's ambient foods business and merged it with Premier Foods.
2003 Acquired Ambrosia and Brown and Polson from Unilever. Also acquired Weetabix
2004 Premier Foods was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
By 2005 the European Fund had made profits from selling[4]:
- Mumm/Perrier Jouet
- Yell
- Premier Foods
- Christie-Tyler
but losses on:
- Viatel
- Landtel/Altitude/Sports.com (combined)
and also Grupo Media Capital
Continuing holdings were:
- Weetabix
- Jimmy Choo
- Wagamama
- Materne
- Aster City Cable
- Burton's Foods
- Eurotaxglass