John West Tuna to be sold by Lehman Brother's old private equity firm

John West Tuna, the UK's major tinned fish brand, has been placed on the market with a price tag of £400m.

The Liverpool-based business, owned by MWBrands since 2006, has been put up for sale by Trilantic Capital Partners, which was previously Lehman Brother's private equity firm.

This will be the first large disposal by the private equity company since it was bought out from the failed Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking by its old bosses.

UBS has been instructed to manage the sale of MWBrands, which also owns France's Petit Navire, the Italy-based Mareblu and Parmentier sardines.

The sale process will formally commence in the next few weeks, it has been reported.

Scotsman John West, founded the business in Oregon, US in 1868. In 1888 two Liverpool merchants, TL Pelling and CH Stanley, began to import salmon and bought the name, with the first tins imported in 1892.

Today the business has major branches in Africa and Australia, operations in 38 other countries and over 130 products.

The company was owned by Unilever's foods unit before Heinz bought it in 1997.

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