MANOR FARM, IRELAND’S biggest chicken processor, will be sold to Swedish firm Scandi Standard in a deal that values the company at €94 million.
The two firms have entered into a deal for the Swedish listed company to take over the family-owned Irish chicken producer.
Manor Farm is currently 85% owned by brothers Vincent and Justin Carton, whose family has been in the chicken business for more than 200 years. The pair are the eighth generation involved with the firm.
The Carton family opened their first chicken processing plant in Dublin in 1956, and the company now employs around 850 people. Last year it had revenue of €164 million, with net earnings before deductions hitting €13 million.
The agreement involves a payment of nearly €70 million in cash and shares, with up to €25 million more available to Manor Farm’s owners based on a series of performance-based targets running to 2020.
Manor Farm CEO Vincent Carton said: “As the next generation of Cartons have chosen to pursue other business interests, we set out to find a partner with high standards, a culture similar to our own and the capability to develop the business to its fullest potential.”
Scandi Standard said the deal would still need to be cleared at an extraordinary general meeting, but its four largest shareholders supported the transaction. The sale is expected to be finalised in late August or September.
It said Manor Farm has “profitable and well-run operations” and it was a “clear market leader in a market with strong preference for local produce”.
Manor Farm currently sources and processes around half of all the fresh chicken sold in the Irish retail market.
The Carton brothers planned to remain Scandi Standard shareholders after the deal, the company said, and Manor Farm’s current management would remain in place.
Written by Peter Bodkin and posted on Fora.ie
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