UK: Nomad Foods builds frozen food portfolio with Findus acquisition

Nomad Foods, the recently-established firm seeking to build a global consumer brands business through acquisitions, has beefed up its frozen food interests with the purchase of the Findus business in Europe from LionGem of Sweden.

Nomad Foods completed its "anchor investment" - the acquisition of leading frozen foods business Iglo - in June 2015, stating that "we intend to continue supporting Iglo’s organic growth initiatives as well as pursue strategic acquisitions to build a portfolio of best-in-class food companies and brands within existing and new categories".

Stéfan Descheemaeker, Nomad's Chief Executive Officer, stated: "This transaction is in line with our growth strategy, an exciting addition to the Nomad portfolio, and a significant milestone in reaching our goal of building a global consumer foods company. While the operations we are acquiring are strong, attractive assets on their own, combining them with our existing businesses creates a unique value proposition and unlocks new growth opportunities. The Findus name is well-loved and iconic across the European continent, and having the businesses under one umbrella brings together two talented, world-class teams, enabling us to share best practices and to elevate and evolve the brand as we bring an even greater choice of products to consumers".

The binding offer for Findus Sverige AB and its subsidiaries - worth approximately £500 million ($780 million) - will see Nomad acquire Findus Group's continental European businesses in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, France, Spain and Belgium, including 1,500 employees, 6 operations sites and the intellectual property and commercialisation rights to the Findus, Lutosa, and La Cocinera brands in the respective markets.

The remaining part of the Findus Group, including Young's Seafood Limited in the UK, is excluded from the transaction. Retail Detail reports that this is most probably to avoid anti-trust concerns, given that a Nomad portfolio including Young's would give it around 45% market share in the UK.

Source: Nomad Foods / Retail Detail