Buyers Offered EUR850M Finance In Picard Surgeles Sale-Sources

By Carol Dean Of Dow Jones Newswires LONDON (Dow Jones)--Potential buyers of BC Partners' French frozen food company, Picard Surgeles, are being offered staple finance of EUR850 million in the sale of the business that is likely to be valued around EUR1.5 billion, said people familiar with the situation Tuesday. The financing comprises EUR650 million of senior debt and EUR200 million of mezzanine debt, one source said. The sale process, advised by Rothschild, has yet to get underway but interest has been shown in the company, particularly from private equity buyers, another person said. The staple finance is being provided by a group of banks comprising Credit Agricole, Lloyds, Mizuho, Natixis and Societe Generale, the first person said. Staple finance is typically arranged by the vendor's advising bank in the sale of a business. The winning bidder has the option to accept the loan on offer or make its own financing arrangements. Recent reports have said that French investment company Eurazeo (RF.FR) is among the candidates to buy BC Partners' 71% stake in frozen food company Picard. Lion Capital and CVC Capital Partners have also been named as likely bidders. As previously reported by Dow Jones Newswires, a spokesman for Eurazeo declined to comment on the report. Picard is a French frozen food distributor that was acquired by BC Partners in 2004. Prior to that, the company was part of the French supermarket group Carrfour before being sold to an Anglo-French consortium led by private equity firm Candover Investments, according to the company's website. By Carol Dean, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9306 carol.dean@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 13, 2010 13:00 ET (17:00 GMT)