Nutresa Makes CentAm Buy

Colombia’s Nutresa has agreed to acquire Panamanian ice cream producer American Franchising (AFC) for $110m, it says. The purchase comes at 13.9x Ebitda, inclusive of real estate, the company points out, with the ice cream business itself is valued at 12x Ebitda. “AFC is one of the leading players in its category in the Central American region and its Ebitda margin is much higher than that of Grupo Nutresa, which will contribute positively to the Grupo Empersarial Nutresa profitability,” the company says. Nutresa operates in cold cuts, biscuits, chocolates, ice cream, coffee and pasta, and was looking for a buy in the region within its segments, says a person familiar with the deal. The company declined to comment as to how it is funding the purchase.