Hain Celestial: Offloads basmati rice brand on Brexit concerns
28/08/2019 18:45
** Food company's shares HAIN.O up ~2% at $18.54 in
afternoon trading
** HAIN says completed strategic sale of Tilda, a premium
basmati and specialty rice brand, to Ebro Foods SA EBRO.MC for
$342 mln in cash urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nPnbjGZ2xa
** Company expects to use portion of proceeds to pay down
debt and is evaluating distribution alternatives for the
remainder
** CEO Mark Schiller says Tilda has been a strong business
for HAIN, primarily in the United Kingdom
** "We believe this transaction represents a significant
premium to a majority of other European food and global rice and
pasta industry transactions over the last several years" -
Schiller
** "In addition, this divestiture will enable us to reduce
our exposure to marketplace disruption associated with the
uncertainty of Brexit and additional future potential foreign
currency fluctuations" - Schiller
** Tilda is expected to contribute about $200 mln in net
sales and $25 mln of adj EBITDA for fiscal year 2019
** Up to Tuesday's close, HAIN has risen 14.6% this year
(Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru)