Greencore to Expand US Business With $747.5 Million Acquisition of Peacock Foods
Greencore Group, the Dublin-based international convenience food manufacturer, plans to strengthen its US business with the proposed acquisition of Peacock Foods for an enterprise value of $747.5 million (£594.3 million). Peacock Foods is a fast-growing US convenience food manufacturer with strong positions in frozen breakfast sandwiches, kids’ chilled meal kits and salad kits, generating revenues of approximately $1 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $72.1 million in year to September 2016. The acquisition has the potential to transform Greencore’s existing market and channel position in the US and create a strong platform for long term profitable growth.
Patrick Coveney, chief executive of Greencore, says: “The acquisition of Peacock will transform our US business, strengthen our position in high growth categories, broaden our channel and customer exposure, and add significant scale to our operations. We believe Peacock’s success is built on the same fundamental strategy and values that drive Greencore, making products that consumers love, building deep, long-standing relationships with customers, investing in high quality manufacturing capacity, food safety capability and, most importantly, people.”
The proposed acquisition will add seven well-invested scale sites to create a network that will have five times the footprint of Greencore’s current US operations and enhanced geographic reach. Greencore is projecting annual cost synergies of at least $15 million by the 2019 financial year through combining Peacock with its existing US operations.
