News

On 1st May, our client, Cranberry Foods, was acquired by Faccenda Group, one of the UK’s leading poultry suppliers.

Cranberry Foods, the UK’s second biggest turkey producer, supplies the UK’s leading supermarkets, and food service sector. The company has 750 employees and a turnover of c. £100m. Its factory sites include processing plants in Scropton, Derbyshire and Abergavenny, South Wales while its farming operation stretches from Yorkshire to South Wales.

Faccenda Group is a privately owned family business that has been a leading supplier of fresh chicken products for 50 years. It employs 2000 people in hatcheries, farms, feed mills and processing plants across the UK. The deal will see Faccenda become one of the UK’s largest food players with a turnover of c. £400 million.

On 23rd April, our client CapVest Ltd, announced the sale of United Coffee (formerly Drie Mollen) to UCC Holdings Limited. United Coffee is the largest independent coffee business in Europe with leading market positions in the UK, Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain and a growing presence in France and Scandinavia. The transaction is expected to be completed in the early summer.

Since CapVest’s acquisition of Drie Mollen in 2008, there has been a sustained purchasing programme of businesses across Spain, Switzerland, the UK and France resulting in a company with established industry-leading procurement, risk management and production practices. With a turnover in excess of €450 million, today the business employs over 1,000 people, roasts nearly 70,000 tons of coffee per year and services 20,000 clients across three channels: retail private label, foodservice chains and the independent HoReCa sector. The business has also established an important position in the fast growing coffee capsule segment which will position it for the future.

UCC, a €2.5 billion turnover family-owned Japanese food conglomerate, established in 1969 and the inventor of canned coffee, is today the largest roaster and leading supplier of retail, commercial and industrial-use coffee in Japan. The combination creates one of the top 5 independent coffee groups in the World.

We were pleased to advise our client, Cloetta AB, on the sale of its Belgian distribution business to German confectioner, Katjes International, as part of its strategy to focus on core brands and key markets following the merger with Leaf in December last year.

Katjes will continue to sell and distribute Cloetta owned brands in Belgium.

Our client, Premier Foods, has successfully completed the two deals announced in December 2011.

The sale of Brookes Avana to the 2 Sisters Food Group closed on 30th December 2011 and the sale of the Irish Brands to Boyne Valley Group on 23rd January 2012.