News in brief

Netherlands-based metal packaging company Impress Group began premarketing last Thursday ahead of its LSE IPO that will raise more than €600m, for a freefloat of more than 75%. Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Cazenove are joint bookrunners, while ABN AMRO Rothschild is co-lead manager. The company was created in 1997, when Doughty Hanson completed an LBO and merger of the metal packaging interests of Pechiney and Schmalbach-Lubeca.Proceeds from the transaction will be used to repay outstanding senior and hybrid notes. Bookbuilding is expected to get under way next week, for a late November trading debut.

CVC is no longer in the running to buy Abbot Group, having dropped out of an auction that would have seen the private equity group buy it. The Telegraph also reported that 3i has already hired UBS to advise it on making an offer for Abbot.It is thought that 3i is considering a 375 pence per share bid that would value Abbot at some £870m (US$1.79bn). Abbot confirmed that it received a bid approach right at the beginning of October.

Terra Firma Capital Partners, the pan-European buyout firm headed by Guy Hands, is carrying out a strategic review of EMI, the music group it bought two months ago, in what is believed to be an attempt to reduce its equity exposure.According to reports, Terra Firm is exploring interest in selling down a “few hundred million pounds” of equity put into the £2.4bn (US$4.95bn) transaction. Terra Firma is understood to have put approximately £1.4bn of equity into the deal. In addition, the firm may consider outsourcing EMI’s distribution business to a rival music group or carrying out job cuts.

Cinven has agreed to purchase Coor Service Management Group AB from 3i for a total consideration of around €540m.Coor specialises in managing, developing and streamlining service functions for offices, properties and factories in the Nordic region. In the year to December 2006, Coor delivered net sales of SEK3.97bn (€430m). Both sales and profits are expected to continue to grow strongly in the future.

Baugur, an Icelandic investment group, has turned its attention to the US high street and is believed to be interested in partnering with Dubai-based investor Landmark Group in a tilt for Saks Fifth Avenue, a luxury department store.According to a regulatory filing, Baugur is exploring the “possibility of making a proposal for the acquisition” of Saks, in which it has built up an 8.5% stake this year. The filing announced that it has held talks with Landmark Group, which holds a 1.2% stake. Baugur already dominates much of the UK’s high street, with investments in House of Fraser, French Connection, Moss Brothers, Woolworth, Hamleys, Goldsmith and Iceland.