FDBusiness.com

Karro Food Group, the UK pork processor, has agreed to acquire Young’s Seafood, the leading seafood manufacturer in the UK, for an undisclosed price. With a turnover of £600 million and operating 12 manufacturing sites across the UK, Young’s Seafood provides a broad portfolio of chilled and frozen fish to Britain’s major retailers, restaurants and food service businesses.

Headquartered in Malton, North Yorkshire, Karro Food Group processes about 45,000 pigs each week for delivery to the UK’s major supermarkets and wholesale food suppliers markets, all with full supply chain visibility. The business has been owned by private equity firm CapVest Partners since 2017. CapVest also previously owned Young’s Seafood before disposing of it in 2008.

The combination of Karroa Food and Young’s Seafood will create a group with sales of about £1.2 billion (€1.34 billion) and employ more than 5,000 people across Britain and Ireland. Di Walker, the executive chairwoman of Karro Food Group, has been appointed chief executive of the combined entity. However, Karro Food Group and Young’s Seafood will be operated as two separate businesses.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to create an ambitious multi-protein food business of considerable scale,” explains Di Walker. “Young’s and Karro are highly complementary businesses and the combined platform will have strong market positions in two important protein categories that are experiencing consistent long-term growth.”

CapVest also owns Valeo Foods Group, the acquisitive Irish and international food business, which recently purchased Tangerine Confectionery of the UK for £100 million. Valio Foods was formed in 2010, following the acquisition and merger of Origin Foods and Batchelors, two of Ireland’s most successful branded consumer food companies. Since then, Valeo Foods has successfully completed multiple acquisitions across Ireland, the UK and Continental Europe.