Goldman Sachs sold the Dutch company Continental Bakeries to Biscuit International, a company within Platinum Equity. The transaction will be completed in the first half of 2022. Continental Bakeries is headquarted in Dordrecht, Netherlands, and specializes in the production of sweet and savory biscuits, bread replacements and toast. It focuses on private-label products and a number of own brands such as Continental Bakeries, Haust, Gille, Grabower, Bussink and Brinky.

With a staff or approximately 2,500, Biscuit International manufactures private label sweet biscuits and is headquartered in France. It was founded as by the merger between Groupe Poult and Banketgroep in 2016  and grew to become one of Europe’s top private-label biscuit players, with several recent acquisitions: A&W Feinbackwahren in Germany, Northumbrian Fine Foods in the UK, Stroopwafel & Co in the Netherlands, Arluy in Spain, Aviateur in the Netherlands and (most recently) Dan Cake in Portugal. Biscuit International was itself acquired by Platinum Equity from Qualium Investissement in February 2020.

When the Continental Bakeries transaction is completed, the group will employ over 4,500 people and will generate consolidated sales in excess of EUR900 million. It will produce over 300,000 tons of biscuits, waffles and bread replacement products from 33 factories in Europe. More than 80% of the business will be outside of France.

Goldman Sachs acquired Continental Bakeries from NPM Capital in 2016 and supported the business with the acquisition of Delicpol, a cake and biscuit producer based in Poland.

Continental Bakeries has established itself as one of the leading biscuit manufacturers in Europe, with a reputation for high quality, reliability and a wide-ranging product portfolio.

Mike Ebeling, managing director in the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in an announcement: “Continental Bakeries has established itself as one of the leading biscuit manufacturers in Europe, with a reputation for high quality, reliability and a wide-ranging product portfolio. I’m delighted with the progress Pierluigi and the broader Continental Bakeries team have made and we are excited to see Continental Bakeries joining forces with Biscuit International. We wish the management team the very best in the next phase of their journey.”

Pierluigi Tosato, Continental Bakeries CEO, also commented: “We are excited about joining the Biscuit International family. The combination will enable us to broaden our product portfolio, deepen our international presence across Europe and enhance our customer offering. We look forward to entering a new phase in our development as an organisation and working together with the Biscuit International team to plan for, and following closing, ensure a successful integration.”