(Bloomberg) -- Advent International and Apollo Global Management Inc. are among buyout firms studying a potential acquisition of Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc’s homecare assets, according to people familiar with the matter.
Clayton Dubilier & Rice and PAI Partners are also some of the interested parties for the business, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Reckitt is targeting a valuation of more than £6 billion ($7.7 billion) for the assets, while some of the potential suitors believe the business should be valued lower, the people said. Reckitt has sent out teasers with an overview of the business to potential buyers, they said.
Deliberations are ongoing and the buyout firms could decide not to make any offers, the people said. Representatives for Reckitt and the private equity firms declined to comment.
Reckitt in July unveiled plans to sell some of the homecare brands it deemed non-core and also review options for its infant formula business. The UK-based company wants to focus on “power brands” like Strepsils lozenges, the Mucinex cold remedy, Gaviscon heartburn medicine and Durex condoms, along with some disinfectants like Dettol and Lysol that boomed during the pandemic.
The consumer giant is working with Morgan Stanley to gauge interest in the brands up for sale including Airwick air fresheners and Cillit Bang cleaners, people familiar with the matter have said.
Shares of Reckitt surged by the most in 24 years on Nov. 1 after its unit and Abbott Laboratories were cleared by a jury in the US over claims they hid risks their premature-infant formulas can cause a bowel disease that severely sickened a baby boy. It was the companies’ first trial win in litigation over the products.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is helping Reckitt on evaluating options for its formula brand Mead Johnson, including a potential sale, Bloomberg News has reported. The legal victory may lift the cloud over its planned exit of the business, while there are still other litigations the company is waiting to settle, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Diana Gomes wrote in a note last week.
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