Premier agreed to sell its canned grocery operations to Princes for £182M in early February, including brands Crosse & Blackwell, Smedley’s and Fray Bentos.
Competition concerns
But the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) warned of “competition concerns” regarding UK canned pie supply. That lead Princes to agree to divest Fray Bentos and its manufacturing assets to avoid a referral to the Competition Commission.
Princes said it would run Fray Bentos independently of the rest of its business until a buyer was found.
But despite putting Fray Bentos on the market since the deal was completed on August 3, no buyer has been identified.
A Princes spokesman told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “The company would not want to talk about the process even if there had been any interest from a potential buyer.”
Julian Wild, Food Group Director at Rollits, commented: “There are fewer deals and fewer buyers about, buyers are being much more selective. With Fray Bentos, when was the last time you bought canned meat?
Armed forces
“The business might be attractive to export companies or the armed forces, but Princes can’t seem to offload it at the moment.”
Princes’ acquisition included two major UK canning sites at Long Sutton and Wisbech in East Anglia, employing 1,000 people.
Some of Premier Foods’ brands, including Branston and Batchelors, remain under Premier Foods’ ownership but have been licensed to Princes on a long-term arrangement.