Selecta - comment

Lavazza, ostensibly one of the parties involved in the potential sales process that did or didn’t take place recently, are bidding an encouraging €7.15 per share for up to an incremental 8% of IVS of Italy (Selecta comp) to bring them within striking distance of where Lavazza would have to make a mandatory offer. We felt the Italian coffee brand was always a little small to take over all of Selecta and IVS lies closer to home. But the implied multiple of 9.5x EBITDA is a favourable read-across for Selecta.