Kimberly-Clark to Call Off European Tissue Sale: FT

(Bloomberg) -- Kimberly-Clark Corp. has given up trying to sell its European tissue business, the Financial Times reported, citing people close to the situation, after the unit fetched much less than the $1.2 billion it was anticipated to receive.

The sale gained interest from private equity firm Centerbridge Partners LP and a group including Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and PAI Partners SAS. The Goldman consortium initially bid about $1.4 billion but then lowered its offer to below $900 million citing factors including Brexit, according to one person close to the process.

“Kimberly-Clark does not comment of media speculation about our business,” said Terry Balluck, a spokesman for the company.

Best known in the U.S. for its Kleenex goods, Kimberly-Clark’s tissue brands include Hakle and Tela in Europe, as well the tissue products made famous by its Andrex puppy advertisements.

--With assistance from Caleb Melby.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kimberly Yuen in New York at kyuen3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net;Chakradhar Adusumilli at cadusumilli@bloomberg.net

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