Hilton Foods Forms Australian Joint Venture
Hilton Food Group, Europe’s leading specialist retail meat packing business, has entered into a joint venture agreement with Woolworths, Australia’s largest retailer. The joint venture has been established through a new company, Woolworths Meat Co, which is 50 per cent owned by a new Hilton subsidiary, Hilton Foods Asia Pacific, and 50 per cent owned by Woolworths.
Woolworths Meat Co will operate the Bunbury Meat Centre at Bunbury, near Perth, Western Australia under an agreement commencing early in 2013. Bunbury currently supplies 84 Woolworths stores in Western Australia with a range of fresh meat including beef, lamb and pork and value added products.
The board of Hilton believes that good opportunities exist for further collaboration with Woolworths in Australia through the new joint venture.
Currently supplying major retailers in 12 countries across Europe, Hilton operates from six European locations and is a large supplier to Tesco, Ahold and Coop Danmark. The meat group had sales of £981 million in 2011 and employs over 2,100 people at its six modern European sites.
Woolworths has been serving Australian customers for more than 80 years. The retailer has around 3,000 stores acrossAustralia and New Zealand.
