Permira to recapitalise food group Iglo - FT

LONDON (Reuters) - Permira PERM.UL is planning a 500 million euro (397.05 million pounds) refinancing of Birds Eye Iglo, the frozen foods business, which will see the bulk of the proceeds returned to investors, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

The private equity firm plans to recapitalise following the collapse of sale talks with rival investors including Blackstone (BX.N) and BC Partners BCPRT.UL in June.

The recapitalisation will increase Birds Eye's debt from 4.2 times the EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) tax rate to 5.5 times, which is almost 2 billion euros, the FT said.

Much of the cash will be used to fund dividends to Permira, to ensure that its investors realise some near-term reward from the asset after an abortive sale process, the remainder is expected to fund expansion, both organic and acquisitive, according to the article.

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Eric Meijer)