‘Chicken King’ Boparan seeks £50m to combat supply chain crisis

The country’s biggest poultry supplier is said to be in talks to secure millions of pounds in additional funding to help combat supply chain issues that have blighted the food industry.

Boparan Holdings, which trades as 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) and is headed by West Midlands businessman Ranjit Boparan, is in advanced negotiations with several hedge funds about providing around £50m of extra liquidity to the company, Sky News reported.

It is understood that the talks with financiers are expected to result in a deal in the coming days.

The extra cash would provide additional support to Birmingham-based 2SFG’s trading during the key Christmas period.

As the owner of Bernard Matthews, Boparan is Britain’s biggest supplier of Christmas turkeys to supermarkets across the country, while his group also owns a number of other major food brands, such as Holland’s Pies.

2SFG employs about 18,000 people in the UK, making it one of the country’s biggest privately owned companies.

Last month, Boparan warned that rising inflation was “decaying the food sector’s supply chain”.

“The days when you could feed a family of four with a £3 chicken are coming to an end. We need transparent, honest pricing. This is a reset and we need to spell out what this will mean,” he said.

“Food is too cheap, there’s no point avoiding the issue. In relative terms, a chicken today is cheaper to buy than it was 20 years ago.”