Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, the US private equity firm, has appointed Merrill Lynch to float Premier Foods, the UK food conglomerate, in a deal that could value the company at more than £1.3bn (€1.9bn).

The group owns household brands such as Cadbury, Rowntree, Typhoo, Sun-Pat peanut butter, Crosse & Blackwell and Branston Pickle.