Canadian bakery giant George Weston Ltd is exploring a potential deal to buy Aryzta, the embattled Irish-Swiss bakery group. Bloomberg reported that Toronto-based George Weston Ltd is working with an adviser as it pursues a deal for Aryzta, citing unnamed sources. George Weston Ltd is part of a sprawling empire of companies, including Penneys and Brown Thomas, owned or dominated by various descendants of the original empire builder George Weston himself, although the various companies are independent of each other. Last week Aryzta said a number of third parties had made unsolicited takeover approaches for the company. Representatives for Apollo, Aryzta and Cerberus declined to comment and George Weston’s office in Toronto could not be reached for comment.

Source: Irish Independent July 30, 2020 19:30 UTC