Four months after hiring advisers to start shopping French food ingredients maker Diana Group, private equity firm Ardian has found a potential buyer in German flavors and fragrances giant Symrise, which has agreed to pay $1.8 billion for the company.
Diana, based in the ancient city of Vannes in northwest France, specializes in flavors and food additives. Symrise—which raised $1.9 billion in a 2006 initial public offering that was the biggest IPO in Germany that year—believes the acquisition will boost its ability to compete with rivals like Firmenich, Givaudan and International Flavors & Fragrances.
