PAI and Nestlé to set up joint venture for frozen pizza in Europe

• PAI and Nestlé will have equal non-controlling stakes with equal voting rights
• The new business will be headquartered in Germany
• PAI Partners is a private equity firm that manages €24.7bn of dedicated buyout funds

Nestlé and PAI Partners, via its PAI Mid-Market Fund (PAI MMF), have agreed to set up a joint venture for Nestlé’s frozen pizza business in Europe. No financial details of the transaction were disclosed.

Nestlé is a food and beverage company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. The company’s pizza business has an annual turnover of around SFr 400 million (€407.9 million; $447.8 million).

The new business will be headquartered in Germany and will operate two manufacturing facilities, in Nonnweiler, Germany and Benevento, Italy.

PAI and Nestlé will have equal non-controlling stakes with equal voting rights.

“This investment is what we set out to do with PAI’s Mid-Market Fund – to continue PAI’s approach of partnering with strong brand platforms and building international leaders in the mid-market,” said Raffaele Vitale, a founding partner of PAI MMF.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2023, subject to regulatory approval.

PAI and Nestle’s partnership follows the creation of Froneri in 2016, a joint venture between PAI Partners and Nestlé.

PAI has completed 35 buyouts in the food and consumer sector since inception.

PAI Partners, based in Paris, France, is a private equity firm that manages €24.7 billion of dedicated buyout funds. The firm has completed 95 investments, representing over €81 billion in transaction value.