By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
The maker of Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels is finalising an agreement to sell itself this weekend to a Canadian pension fund for around £350m.
Sky News understands that Burton's Biscuits is expected to announce on Saturday that it is being taken over by a major financial investor, with an arm of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in pole position to land the deal.
The sale has not yet been completed, and sources close to the talks said it remained possible that a rival bidder could yet make an improved last-minute offer.
Three other firms - Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus, which is an investor in Premier Foods, the UK's biggest branded foods producer - also tabled final offers for Burton's on Thursday.
Ontario Teachers has become a voracious acquirer of British companies in recent years, taking over Camelot, the National Lottery operator, and Busy Bees, the nursery chain.
If it completes the Burton's deal, it will look to expand the business overseas and consider further acquisitions.
A sale of Burton's will entail a change of ownership for another portfolio of prominent UK food brands following the sale several months ago of the snacks division of United Biscuits (UB), which included Hula Hoops and KP Skips among its products.
Burton's is Britain's second-largest biscuits manufacturer by sales, behind UB, which is also owned by two private equity groups, Blackstone and PAI Partners.
As well as Wagon Wheels, Burton's produces Cadbury Biscuits, Lyon's and Maryland cookies.
Based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, Burton's traces its roots back to the mid-1800s when it was founded by George Burton.
It employs more than 2,200 people around the UK in three manufacturing facilities in Llantarnam, Edinburgh and Blackpool, a chocolate refinery in Moreton and a central distribution hub in Liverpool.
Burton's is one of a sizeable number of mid-sized British companies which has been through several phases of private equity ownership.
In 2009, Apollo and CIBC, the Canadian bank, seized control of the company after Duke Street Capital, its previous owner, was forced to surrender control to the biscuit-maker's lenders.
Another private equity group, HM Capital, had bought the company in 2000 from Associated British Foods, owner of the Primark retail chain.
The auction of Burton's will pre-empt that of UB, which is expected to be put up for sale in the next couple of years.
Ontario Teachers is now likely to draw up plans to bid for part or all of UB.
UB, which now consists solely of a biscuits business, owns the McVitie's brand, which includes products such as Jaffa Cakes and Penguin.
Spokesmen for Burton's and Ontario Teachers declined to comment.
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