Wholesaler warms up with Sheffield frozen foods firm buy

INDEPENDENT wholesaler Kitwave has acquired Sheffield frozen foods firm Hulleys.

Registered as Angelbell, but trading as Hulleys Frozen Foods, the firm has been snapped up by the fast-moving consumer goods firm, based in Newcastle.

Hulleys is an 80 year-old family business predominantly supplying ice-cream but also with a wider frozen food offering.

Hulleys has six depots supplying a delivery network distributing across the whole of England including locations in Nottingham, Louth, Norwich, Kingwinford and Kirkham with head office in Sheffield.

Hulleys will be the 11th firm the group has acquired since it received a £7.5m cash injection from NVM Private Equity in 2011 to purchase independent wholesale businesses, which was its remit when Kitwave was set up in 1987.

The acquisition was described as an “excellent fit” complimenting the acquisition last year of another FMCG wholesaler, Eden Farm.

Kitwave’s group managing director Paul Young, group finance director David Brind and their team have since acquired Anderson Wholesale, Automatic Retailing, Teatime Tasties, Eden Farm, Squirrels UK and now Angelbell Limited.

David Brind of the Kitwave Group, said: “The acquisition of Hulleys Frozen provides an exciting opportunity for the Kitwave Group, that will provide additional customers, products and services to our existing offering. “

Mauro Biagioni, partner at NVM Private Equity, said: “The addition of Angelbell by the Kitwave Group will serve to complement Kitwave’s existing portfolio of businesses.
“Paul and the team are keen to make further acquisitions across their industry to continue to grow in a fragmented market.”

The acquisition of Hulleys was supported by new finance facilities made available by Barclays Bank.

David Collins, relationship director at Barclays, said: “As a longstanding Barclays customer we are delighted to support Kitwave with facilities to support the acquisition of Angelbell Limited. This transaction substantially strengthens Kitwave’s offering in the frozen & foodservice sectors, and also provides a real opportunity for the group to further grow their customer base.”

Kitwave was supported with legal and due diligence services by Muckle and KPMG.