Nomad buys Goodfella’s Pizza in £199M deal

The acquisition of the frozen pizza business within Green Isle Foods includes the San Marco brand and two frozen pizza manufacturing facilities, as well as the ongoing supply of own-label frozen pizza contracts to UK and Irish retailers.

Green Isle’s frozen pastry, frozen vegetable and frozen fish operations will remain part of 2 Sisters, including the brands such as UpperCrust, Green Isle and Donegal Catch.

Nomad ceo Stefan Descheemaeker said the deal would create a new growth avenue into the frozen pizza category, which complemented the firm’s existing brands.

“We have a strong foundation in place and are well positioned to create shareholder value as we apply our proven toolkit of capabilities to Goodfella’s Pizza and further develop our portfolio of iconic and market leading brands,” said Descheemaeker.

Expand into new categories

Nomad co-chairman and founder Noam Gottesman said the time was right to expand the business into new categories such as pizza, which offered adjacent avenues for further growth.

“The Goodfella’s Pizza brands and team broaden our product offering and customer reach, and solidify our market leadership within the UK and Ireland. We are pleased to welcome Goodfella’s Pizza to the Nomad Foods portfolio,” added Gottesman.

Nomad expected the acquisition to deliver €150M (£132.8M) in sales within two years of closing the deal. It would also generate €22M–€25M (£19.4M–£22.1M) in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.

Commenting on the sale, 2 Sisters chief executive Ranjit Boparan said: “We have had approaches over the past couple of years for these businesses and we have been talking to several interested parties during this period.

“But a sale had to be at the right time, with the right buyer, and it had to be a deal that fitted with our long-term strategy.”

‘Better business’

Boparan said the deal represented the first major step in transforming 2 Sisters into a “better business”.

The finalisation of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, which were expected to be completed early this year.

Nomad’s acquisition of the business comes almost three years since it bought Birds Eye owner Iglo Foods for £1.87bn in April 2015, followed by the purchase of Findus’s European operations just four months later.

The past month has seen a raft of food and drink acquisitions, as reported by this website.

Earlier this month, Burts Potato Chips purchased Leicester-based popcorn and healthy snacks firm Savoury & Sweet for an undisclosed sum, its first acquisition since the company was founded in 1997.

Meanwhile, Nestlé sold its US confectionery arm – including well-known brands Crunch, Nerds and Butterfinger – to Ferrero, in a deal worth $2.8bn (£2.03bn).