Chinese food giant ‘could buy’ Moy Park in £1bn deal

“New Hope would be one of the players who could afford a £1bn+ price tag,” ​the expert told FoodManufacture.co.uk.

“New Hope is the largest Chinese agri-food conglomerate, and I know that it had been eyeing very large acquisitions in Australasia.”​

The most likely to buy Moy Park​

A Chinese business was the most likely to buy Moy Park, the expert added.

The expert’s comments followed reports that Moy Park has reportedly been eyed up by New Hope for a £1bn takeover.

New Hope – which has food operations in 21 countries around the world – joined a growing list of potential suitors for Moy Park, according to The Telegraph​. Moy Park was put up for sale by its Brazilian owner JBS in June.

The Chinese giant’s food processing business, New Hope Liuhe, has about 500 facilities in total, and has about 60,000 workers. In 2015, New Hope Liuhe reported sales of £7.2bn (¥61.5bn).

No-one from Moy Park or New Hope was available for comment on the reported bid.

Acquiring Moy Park​

In June, the industry expert told FoodManufacture.co.uk that no European business was in a position to acquire Moy Park. Any buyer would come from the US, South America or the Far East​, the expert added.

“I would say that a Chinese business is a definite possibility, too,”​ the insider said.

Meanwhile, after its owner put Moy Park up for sale on June 20, JBS said the poultry processor would continue to supply its products as normal.

Moy Park has 13 processing and manufacturing sites across Northern Ireland, England, France, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland. It processes about 200,000t of food a year.