Cold storage giant snaps up rival in £16.5m deal
HSH Coldstores – the temperature-controlled storage and distribution specialist – has snapped up Lincolnshire counterpart ACS&T in a £16.5m deal.
HSH, which is headquartered in Grimsby, will also pay a pre-completion cash dividend of £3.8m to Camellia plc for its interest in the BRCGS accredited food storage and logistics company.
The transaction is subject to customary warranties and indemnities and is expected to complete on 10 January 2023.
Camellia, a major agricultural group of companies based in Kent, says it intends to use the proceeds from the sale to further its strategy of focusing investment activity on its core agriculture operations and for “general working capital purposes.”
HSH is a subsidiary of Constellation Cold Logistics, Europe’s third largest cold storage network. In November, the firm received £5m from the Seafood Infrastructure Fund to support the construction of a new £30m cold store and distribution hub in Grimsby.
Meanwhile, ACS&T posted revenues of £13m and a profit before tax of £0.6m for the six months to 30 June 2022.
The gross assets attributable to the business at that point were worth £33.6m (net: £14.8m).
