CMS advises Cinven on the acquisition of leading European pet food manufacturer

CMS has advised major private equity house Cinven on its acquisition of Partner in Pet Food (PPF), a leading European pet food manufacturer, from Pamplona Capital Management. The deal follows Pamplona’s EUR 315m acquisition of PPF from Advent International in April 2015, on which CMS advised Advent.

Headquartered in Hungary, PPF is a market-leading pet food manufacturer with nine manufacturing operations across Europe. PPF supplies pet food to more than 250 customers in Europe, including traditional retailers, discounters, speciality pet retailers and online specialists.

This acquisition marks Cinven’s first investment in the European pet food market; a market worth over EUR 23bn and forecast to continue growing at a sustained pace over the coming years. The transaction moved at an extremely quick pace, signing within just five days of CMS having been instructed.

The team was led by James Grimwood and Graham Conlon.