Quorn gobbled up by Filipino firm for £550m
MEAT-FREE retailer Quorn has been bought by a Filipino firm, Monde Nissin, for £550m.
The sale has been completed today, by former owners Exponent Private Equity and Intermediate Capital Group.
Quorn specialises in meat alternatives, and achieved sales of £150.3m in 2014. Based in Stokesley in North Yorkshire, the firm will continue to operate from there. Recently the firm invested £30m in increasing capacity at its Teeside facilities.
Quorn Foods has around 620 employees on three UK sites and internationally at these facilities, as well as Methwold in Norfolk, Frankfurt in Germany, and Chicago, USA.
Monde Nissin is a consumer goods company in the Philippines, and are on the acquisition trail to build a global food business focused on health and sustainability.
Simon Davidson, partner at Exponent said: “Under Exponent’s ownership Quorn has been transformed into a fast-growing global health brand. Our partnership with the superb management team, led by Kevin Brennan, has created one of the UK’s fastest growing food brands as well as a rapidly growing international business.”
Quorn’s chief executive, Kevin Brennan, said: “We have an ambition to be the world leader in meat alternatives, ultimately creating a $1bn business. Monde Nissin Corporation’s purchase represents a great step forwards in this ambition; they share our belief in the potential of Quorn, and provide capability to expand the brand into Asia.”
Monde Nissin’s chief executive Henry Soesanto said “Monde Nissin have been investing in “on-trend, better for you” products internationally in line with our strategy to become a global diversified food company. Quorn represents an important new leg in our offering. We are excited by the growth potential of the global meat alternatives market, which complements our strategy perfectly.”
Chris Graham, partner at Exponent, said “The last five years have seen Quorn help take a staggering 60bn calories out of diets and had a Greenhouse Gas benefit equal to 65,000 cars not being on the road. Under Monde Nissin’s ownership I am confident it will go on to have a profound impact on both health and sustainability.”
Exponent and ICG were advised by Houlihan Lokey, Perella Weinberg Partners and Spayne Lindsay and legally represented by A&O. Pre-sale preparation was provided by OC&C Strategy Consultants and KPMG.
Citigroup Global Markets and Courtyard Hill advised Monde Nissin. BDO, BPI and Metro Bank supported Monde Nissin in this transaction. Legal advisors were Linklaters.
