Imperial faces rival in Altadis race
Imperial Tobacco’s hopes of landing rival Altadis were today under further pressure after it was reported private equity firm CVC planned to bid.
CVC, which this week pulled out of the running to buy UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, is said to have held talks with Altadis’s management and is also thought to be planning a consortium to submit an approach.
Altadis, which makes Gitanes cigarettes, has already spurned two proposals from Imperial – the highest valuing the Franco-Spanish firm at £8.2bn (€12bn).
