ICE cream manufacturer R&R Ice Cream is considering buy-out proposals from private equity firms in a deal expected to be worth more than £750 million.
The business, which employs about 450 staff at its headquarters at Leeming Bar, near Northallerton, is said to be examining bids from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and PAI Partners.
The firm, which produced posted sales in excess of £400 million last year, owns the license to make a range of Nestlé ices, runs the FAB lollies and Skinny Cow brands and produces and packages more than 70 per cent of the two-litre supermarket own-brand ice cream in the UK.
The bids follow the firm, which formed in 2006 from the merger of Richmond Ice Cream and Roncadin, launching a review of its strategic options last autumn.
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