Bidvest – which supplies fresh ingredients including: fish and seafood, meat, produce, dairy products and ambient goods – completed the deal on Friday April 1.
Knight Meats was established in 1992 as a premium quality catering butcher. The business provided a range of fresh meat, poultry and deli products to the professional kitchen sector.
Its customers included: hotels, restaurants, contract caterers, plus schools and colleges.
‘A fabulous business’
Bidvest Fresh chief executive Stephen Oswald told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We are very pleased to welcome James and Carol Knight and their team at Knight Meats, to our group of businesses.
“Knight Meats is a fabulous business and we will continue to help support and promote them through our customer base of independent restaurants and caterers in the region”
The acquisition will enable Bidvest Fresh to boost its skill base in butchery, he added. The deal was also predicted to strengthen Bidvest Fresh's ability to offer nationwide delivery of quality meat, alongside Royal Warrant Holders’, Campbell Brothers in Scotland, and Henson’s in central London.
‘A likely acquirer’
The acquisition was facilitated by corporate finance firm the Camlee Group. Its project director Paul Thompson said: “Bidvest were identified as a likely acquirer for our client at a very early stage.
“Although there were a number of competing offers, Bidvest demonstrated their desire and commitment by firming up their initial interest quickly and negotiated hard to deliver a deal that our clients were unable to refuse.”
The meat business was sold by md James and Carol Knight.
Last month the the ceo of Bidvest Foodservice revealed that a new vending machine, which produces hot meals from frozen products, will be launched on to the market over the next two months.
Meanwhile, in February last year Bidvest Fresh acquired a majority stake in meat wholesale Henson Foods.