Swissair enters deal to sell Gate Gourmet

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Swissair Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding and has entered into an exclusivity arrangement with Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a leading global private equity firm, on the sale of Gate Gourmet, the airline catering business.

Swissair said "a considerable number of investors" had expressed interest in acquiring the company. The closing of the transaction is expected in the next quarter.

Gate Gourmet is the world's second largest airline catering business with a turnover of about SFr3.2bn ($1.86bn) in 2001. Its customer base includes all major airlines. Gate Gourmet serves more than 300m passengers per year, and employs 26,000 staff in operating 152 kitchens in 33 countries.

Texas Pacific Group, founded in 1993 and based in Texas, San Francisco and London, is a private investment partnership with capital of more than $8bn. The Group has also reportedly recruited Adrian Bellamy, former DFS Group president and The Body Shop US business partner, in a consultancy role.

TPG has made significant investments across Europe and the US in a broad range of industries, including luxury goods (Bally, Ducati, J Crew), consumer services and FMCG (Punch Taverns, Del Monte, Beringer Wines), technology (ON Semiconductor, GlobeSpan, Gemplus), and healthcare services (Oxford Health Plans, Magellan Health Services).