Suitors' £150m beauty parade

MOLTON Brown, maker of luxury beauty products adored by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex And The City, has had a potential takeover approach from a private equity group backed by Unilever and Whitbread.

Langholm Capital, which numbers the homecare products and leisure giants among its investors, made the move in the past few weeks. But since then, several other private equity firms have contacted NM Rothschild, the investment bank advising Molton Brown.

Insiders said this could lead to a full auction, valuing the group at about £150m, though competition among bidders could drive the price higher.

Michael Warshaw, Molton Brown chairman, declined to comment on any specific approach, but said: 'We get lots of calls because we are a very attractive business.' Bridgepoint Capital, the private equity group, took a 60% stake in 2003 and management also has a shareholding.

Meanwhile, another Bridgepoint investment, WT Foods, could bring a windfall if part of it, Noon Products, is sold. Founded by Labour donor and entrepreneur Sir Gulam Noon as Noon Products with 11 people in 1989, it employs about 1,100 making a range of 150 Indian ready meals for big supermarkets chains, including Sainsbury and Waitrose.

With the backing of Bridgepoint, the company bought Marston Valley Food, which added chilled Thai foods to its portfolio. Stamford Partners, a specialist corporate finance house and long-standing adviser to Noon, has been charged with assessing a number of approaches for the business, which could value it at more than £100m.