Aryzta activists Veraison/Cobas will not demand any fire sale of Aryzta’s assets in the near term
02 JUL 2020
Aryzta’s [SWX:ARYN] activist investors, led by Veraison Capital, are not looking to push for a “fire sale” of any of the company’s assets, representatives of the group said during today’s press conference attended by this news service.
The investors do not have a specific time frame set for any disposals but expects the whole process of value uplift, including an already announced strategic
review led by
Rothschild, to last between 12 and 24 months, they said.
In May, Veraison disclosed a 17.3% shareholding in-concert with existing investor
Cobas Asset Management and
Heiner Kamps, and
asked for changes to simplify the company and help boost its share price. This morning
the group said it had surpassed a 20% shareholding in the Swiss baked goods company.
The investor expects a new board, composed by the directors it proposed, to conduct an independent assessment in terms of profitability and growth profile of individual businesses within Aryzta group, they said. After that it will be easier to understand which parts of the business could be sold, and for which ones Aryzta can bring added value.
For this reason, the investor has called for a general shareholder meeting as soon as possible, they said. The investor expects the proposals from Rothschild to be reviewed by the new board rather than the current one.
Asset disposals of EUR 600m would allow Aryzta to reduce all, or a large part, of its net debt, they said. Veraison estimates Aryzta’s net debt to be 7 times its 2020 EBITDA while industry standard is up to 3 times, they added.
Deleveraging will allow Aryzta to focus on long-term growth rather than servicing its debt, which has been the case in the last few years, they added.
Asked about the prospect of takeover approaches by private equity firms, the investors specified that “making Aryzta great again” is their objective rather than selling the whole company. The valuation and the situation of the company should be taken over by a trusted board, they added.
An Aryzta spokesperson reiterated previous statements to the market, noting that Aryzta has already delivered some 85% of its stated asset disposal target with those proceeds applied to continued net debt reduction.
by Barbara Pianese in London