Poultry coup for £1bn food company tycoon

A food group based in the Black Country is about to become a £1 billion-a-year business with the takeover of a poultry company based in The Netherlands.

West Bromwich firm 2 sisters is hoping to seal the multi-million pound deal for the Storteboom Group within the next month. Wolverhampton-born tycoon Ranjit Singh Boparan set up 2 Sisters in 1993 and since then has turned the family-owned business into an international operation with sites in the US and Europe, as well as a head office in Dial Lane, West Bromwich.

The company also has bases in Bevan Way, Smethwick, and Lincoln Street, Wolverhampton.

2 Sisters, known for its Buxted brand chickens, now employs more than 5,500 people and has annual sales of more than £750 million.

Storteboom produces frozen and fresh chicken products and employs 1,200 people in Holland and Poland. Its six factories process around three million chickens a week and the company has a turnover of around £350 million a year.

The price tag on the international takeover has not been revealed, and it will have to clear Dutch regulation authorities before it can be completed.

Mr Boparan said: "This intended acquisition is a strategic next step within our long-term business plan which is focused on growth through long term partnerships.

"The Storteboom Group and 2 Sisters' existing Dutch business are complimentary, providing an established platform to support expansion in Central Europe."

The deal follows the takeover of the iconic fish and chip chain Harry Ramsden's by 2 Sisters sister company, Boparan Ventures.

Mr Boparan also bought the Fishworks restaurant chain last year and earlier this month rescued one the UK's leading fish suppliers, saving 330 jobs when he bought Five Star Fish, in Grimsby, out of administration.

The 43-year-old is one of the UK's most successful self-made entrepreneurs.

He started working in a butcher's when he was 11 and left school at 16 to set up on his own.

According to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, he and wife Baljinder are worth around £110 million.