Cheviot becomes Northumberland Foods in MBO

Cheviot Foods has escaped closure in a last minute management buyout (MBO), after its sale to a subsidiary of Country Chef fell through.

The MBO has secured the jobs of the 200 staff at own-label potato speciality manufacturer Cheviot Foods’ production base in Amble, Northumberland. The company is now trading as Northumberland Foods.

Vantis Business Recovery Services handled the administration, which Cheviot Foods entered on September 30, 2008.

“Country Chef was unable to complete its purchase of the business and assets of Cheviot Foods,” said Nick O’Reilly, joint administrator with Geoff Rowley. “Consequently, a sale to the management team was able to be achieved, safeguarding the future of this local business.

“Cheviot Foods was placed into insolvency due to uncontrollable market forces and commodity inflation. With a strong management team in place and a healthy pipeline of business, it should be in a robust condition to achieve a turnaround and build on its past successes.”

David McLaughlin, commercial director at Northumberland Foods, will remain with the business, partnering md Peter Kirkham and finance director Raj Thapar at the Amble site. McLaughlin will be responsible for developing the business strategy across all customer channels, retail, foodservice and business-to-business.

“Obviously we were disappointed when the sale to a business owned by Country Chef did not complete,” said McLaughlin. “However, as a result of the level of interest from potential buyers during the administration period we were able to secure private investment to enable us to perform a management buyout.”