Birds Eye Owner's £250m Windfall Revealed

The owner of the Birds Eye frozen food group is to pay itself a £250m windfall as part of a restructuring of the company's finances, Sky News has learned.

Permira, the private equity group, is expected to begin today the process of extending Iglo Group's debt facilities to 2017 in a move that will give it additional firepower to pursue acquisitions.

Permira will also pay itself just under ?300m as a dividend, which will increase Iglo's debt-pile. The capital will come partly from the repayment of a shareholder loan and partly by returning spare cash on Iglo's balance sheet.

The refinancing, plans for which were revealed by Sky News last month, follows a string of other such deals led by buyout firms seeking to take advantage of active debt markets in recent weeks.

Permira abandoned a plan to sell Iglo earlier this year after potential buyers failed to meet the asking price.

It also pulled a previous attempt to refinance the company's debts amid lukewarm appetite from investors, but it is thought to have had a more positive response this time.

Permira, which also owns a stake in the AA breakdown recovery service and New Look, the fashion retailer, declined to comment.