Unilever's sale of Birds Eye has attracted scant interest, with only a handful of private equity firms working on bids valuing the brand at more than £1 billion (€1.4 billion). Kerry Group is also thought to be mulling an offer.

Permira and Capvest, the private equity firms, were finalising bids to meet yesterday's auction deadline. A consortium that had included Blackstone, JPMorgan Partners and the Kerry Group has looked at Birds Eye, but it was unclear if they had submitted a bid. PAI, which had also expressed interest in the auction, was not expected to put in a bid.

The outcome of the auction, which is being handled by Goldman Sachs, could be announced within a week.

The relatively narrow auction reflects the concern by private equity firms about operating in the frozen food sector, which has lost market share to chilled foods in the UK. "Most people have found it difficult to move the category," one person involved in the bidding process said yesterday.

Capvest had initially planned to bid in a consortium with CVC Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). But CVC and KKR are understood to have been concerned about the possibility of anti-trust problems if Capvest's bid is successful.

Capvest's Foodvest unit already owns Young's Seafood, the frozen food brand and this year bought the Findus brand in Scandinavia from EQT, a private equity firm. Capvest is understood to still want the brand, but its bid structure is likely to be more complex than other firms.

The Birds Eye brand, initially developed in the early 20th century by an American, Clarence Birdseye, was acquired by Unilever in Britain in 1957. The brand did well in the 1950s and 1960s as the fishfinger as well as frozen peas and chips were introduced to the UK market and increasing numbers of households obtained freezers.

The frozen food market expanded through the 1970s as the emergence of the microwave encouraged manufacturers to develop new products. But by the 1980s the industry was challenged by the increasing popularity of chilled foods in the UK.

Although Birds Eye is profitable, Unilever has found it difficult to expand the business and put it up for sale last year.

Sales of Birds Eye frozen meals slid 13 per cent last year to £105.9 million while the brand's frozen poultry line dropped 4.3 per cent, according to AC Nielsen, the market research firm.