Malcolm Walker takes full ownership of Iceland in £115m deal

Sir Malcolm Walker and chief executive Tarsem Dhaliwal have bought out South African conglomerate Brait SE’s 63% stake in the business for £115m to form a newly established company Iceland Foods.

The sale will be made in three tranches, with the first £60m being paid today to Brait and the remaining instalments of £26.9m and £28.1m to be paid in July 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Brait, the investment vehicle of billionaire Chritso Wiese, first undertook a management buyout of Iceland with the backing of Walker, Lord Kirkham and the Landmark Group in 2012.

The investor, which also part-owns New Look, increased its stake to 57% of the frozen food chain in October 2015.

Both Walker and Dhaliwal hailed returning to Iceland to private ownership in the same year as its 50th anniversary.

Walker said: “It is particularly satisfying to turn this new page in Iceland’s history just before the 50th anniversary of the opening of our first shop on November 18, 1970. Having started the business in partnership with a friend, I am delighted to have come full circle and own what are now more than 1,000 stores with another good friend in 2020.

“Over the last half-century, we have had a series of external investors in our business, but I have no hesitation in saying that Brait has been the best. They have been consistently understanding and supportive and were friends as well as business partners. I am sure that friendship will endure and Tarsem and I wish them every success in the future.”

Dhaliwal said: “We are grateful to Brait for giving us this opportunity to take full ownership of Iceland. We have always been a genuine family business and it is not just Sir Malcolm and I but many of our colleagues who have children working for the company. We are totally committed to running and growing this business for the long term benefit of all our stakeholders and their families.”