By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
The frozen-food company at the centre of the horsemeat scandal which engulfed the industry in 2013 is being prepared for a sale that will value its UK arm at hundreds of millions of pounds.
Sky News has learnt that shareholders in Findus Group have begun discussions about a possible sale of the UK operations later this year.
Findus is owned by three investors following a financial restructuring in 2012 which saw Highbridge Capital and JP Morgan join Lion Capital as equal one-third shareholders.
Lion bought Findus, which also has operations in France and Scandinavia, in 2008 in a deal worth £1.1bn and was forced to defend itself from an attempt four years later by Triton Partners, another fund, to seize control of the business.
Banking sources said that advisers had not yet been appointed to auction the UK division but said such a move was likely in the coming months.
A formal decision to proceed with a process had not yet been taken, they added.
In a statement issued to Sky News, Findus insisted that there was "no sale process underway for the UK business, or any part of the Findus Group at this time".
It went on to acknowledge, however, that "the owners and senior executives of Findus Group keep their long-term options continuously under review".
Findus was caught at the centre of the horsemeat scandal when it emerged that some of its beef products in fact contained 100% horsemeat.
The company was accused of responding ponderously to the crisis, eventually withdrawing products from supermarket shelves and promising a full review of its supply chain at the instigation of the Food Standards Agency.
Findus's sales performance has since recovered strongly, according to people close to the business, allowing the company to issue a £200m bond last year.
That deal is understood to have resulted in a multi-million pound payout to investors.
Now run by James Hill, a former veteran of the consumer goods giant Unilever, a sale of Findus's UK business would come as its biggest rival, Iglo Group, is also being prepared for a change of ownership.
Iglo, which owns Birds Eye, is backed by the private equity firm Permira, which is expected to examine a sale or stock market listing this year.
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