One of Britain’s biggest petfood manufacturers is in talks to add another independent producer to its stable of brands.
Sky News understands that Capvest, the owner of Inspired Pet Nutrition (IPN), is orchestrating a bid for Butchers Petcare.
Other bidders are also understood to have bid for Butchers, although IPN is seen as the most obvious buyer given its existing scale in the UK petfood market.
IPN already owns brands including Wagg and Harringtons, while Jollyes, a petfood retailer, was recently sold to TDR Capital, the private equity firm.
Butchers was founded by Graham Baker, the son of a livestock farmer, in 1987, and has seen sales and profits grow steadily in a sector which continues to see booming demand for premium products.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The value of Butchers in a sale to IPN or another bidder was unclear on Wednesday.
The company produces hundreds of millions of cans of dogfood and catfood each year.
Two years ago, it secured a £43m funding package aimed at fuelling its expansion from lenders including Secure Trust Bank.
The Butchers auction is being handled by bankers at Houlihan Lokey.
Capvest declined to comment.