Canadian pension fund OTPP close to buying UK's Burton's Biscuits for $562 mn

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), the Canadian pension fund that manages assets worth C$127.3 billion, is close to buying Britain's Burton's Biscuits, for around  £350 million ($562 million), Sky News reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

OTPP, which had acquired Camelot, the owner of the UK's National Lottery in 2010, is likely to close the deal by this weekend, but another bidder could make an improved last-minute offer, said the paper.

In August, Burton's owners, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, private equity firm Apollo Global Management, and Duke Street Capital, had put Burton's Biscuits on the block.

Private equity firms Warburg Pincus, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Apax Partners have all tabled rival bids for the maker of popular treats Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels, the report added.

Burton's Biscuits, which traces its history back to the 19th Century, was rebranded in 2000 due to the merger between Burton's Gold Medal Biscuits and the Horizon Biscuit Company.

Its brands include Cadbury Biscuits, Maryland, Jammie Dodgers, Wagon Wheels and Lyons.

With revenue of £342 million, Burton's is the second-largest biscuit maker in the UK by sales after United Biscuits.

It employs 2,200 people in the UK, and has three manufacturing facilities in Llantarnam, Blackpool and Edinburgh, a distribution centre in Liverpool and a chocolate refinery in Moreton.