2 Sisters sells Red Meat division
Food group 2 Sisters, which has chicken processing factories in the Black Country, has sold its red meat division to an Irish business.
Kepak Group is buying the business and assets of 2 Sisters Red Meat, including four UK production facilities and a cold storage facility in Truro.
The production sites are the beef and lamb processing factories in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales and McIntosh Donald in Portlethen, Scotland, a retail packing factory at Victoria in Cornwall, and a beef processing site in Bodmin, Cornwall.
2 Sisters Red Meat employs around 1,700 people. The sites, which operate under the brands McIntosh Donald and St Merryn, were bought by 2 Sisters from Vion in 2013 in a £30 million deal.
The Red Meat business has made losses in three of four financial years since and 2 Sisters has been restructuring.
Ranjit Singh Boparan, president of 2 Sisters parent Boparan Holdings, said: “We have had approaches over the past four years for our Red Meat operations, and we have been talking to several interested parties during this period.
“But as we always make clear, any sale has to be at the right time with the right buyer, and it had to be a deal that fitted with our long-term strategy.”
Kepak estimates that the sites it is buying can process and market approximately 250,000 cattle and nore than a million lambs annually, and says that the acquisition will significantly strengthen its operations in both the UK and Ireland.
John Horgan, managing director of Kepak Group, said: “The acquisition of this red meat business, with its very solid UK retail, foodservice and manufacturing relationships, marks a very significant next step in delivering on our strategy.
“It is a great fit for Kepak. The addition of these facilities to Kepak Group significantly increases the value and scale of our business. We are delighted to welcome all our new colleagues that will transfer with the acquisition.
Mr Boparan added: “Kepak Group is the ideal home for our Red Meat business, and this deal is a perfect strategic fit for them. We wish them future success.”
“With customers and consumers at the heart of everything we do, we will continue to focus on delivering great quality, great value products every day.”
In January Boparan Holdings sold the Goodfella’s and San Marco frozen pizza business to another Irish business, Green Isle Foods, for £200m.
