Greencore buys US firm Marketfare Foods for £22.6M
Marketfare, based in Phoenix, Arizona, makes branded, proprietary, and co-pack sandwiches, wraps, burritos and sauces for a wide variety of convenience channels.
The firm’s main customer is 7-Eleven, which it has partnered for more than 20 years. Marketfare is the largest single supplier of Fresh to Go and 7-Smart store-branded sandwiches, servicing over 1,100 7-Eleven stores in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Distribution channels include convenience outlets, vending machines, clubs, shopping centres, grocery, mass drug stores and $1 shops.
Manufacturing facilities
The US firm – which claims: "Know-how is our main ingredient" – operates manufacturing facilities in Salt Lake, Utah and Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Patrick Coveney, Greencore ceo, said: “The acquisition of Marketfare represents an excellent opportunity for us to further develop our food to go business in the US, building on the successful acquisition of On a Roll in December 2010.
"It builds additional scale with 7-Eleven, provides new competencies for us in the fast growing food to go category and extends our geographic footprint principally along the Eastern seaboard.
“The new product capability and geographic expansion provide the opportunity to expand further with our existing customers; the acquisition represents the next step in our strategy to build a business of real scale in the US.”
Earnings
Marketfare reported revenue of £40.9M ($65M) for the year ended January 27 2012, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of £3.6M ($5.7M).
Greencore said it expected to fund the acquisition from existing debt facilities and is expected to complete the deal on April 18.
Integration and transaction expenses are estimated at ($3.5M) (£2.2M) and will be treated as an exceptional item.
Last year Greencore was thought to the be the subject of a takeover bid. Private equity firms, such as Doughty Hanson & Co, were suggested as a possible buyer.
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