Cantrell & Cochrane's (C&C) venture-capital backer, BC Partners, is due to receive as many as five indicative bids for the drinks and snacks firm today.
BC Partners has been making sale presentations on C&C to five competing venture capital (VC) houses over the past few weeks.
The VC firms were asked to register their proposed offers for the company by the end of this week, after which BC Partners will begin to finalise its plans for C&C.
BC Partners has been employing a twin-track exit approach for the past few months, testing the market for both a C&C flotation and a trade sale.
A decision is likely to emerge over the next month, with BC expected to approach institutions to assess appetite for an initial public offering (IPO) even if one of today's indicative bids meets its price expectations.
C&C has engaged Davy Stockbrokers, IBI Corporate Finance, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Smith Barney to advise on a flotation.
Market sources were suggesting yesterday that a trade sale was the more likely option but neither BC nor C&C would comment on the matter.
A spokesman for C&C merely repeated earlier comments to the effect that flotation is the "preferred option".
C&C abandoned a €1.1 billion flotation in the summer of 2002 amid uncertain market conditions.
The company is due to report its 2003 results in about a month, and its future status likely to have been clarified by then.
