THE path has been cleared for West Bromwich entrepreneur Ranjit Boparan to take over Northern Foods after Irish firm Greencore abandoned its pursuit of the Leeds-based company.
Greencore admitted today it had not been able to put together an offer that could rival the 73p per share bid from Boparan Holdings.
The company also revealed it had been attempting to assemble a deal which would have seen it buy the most attractive parts of Northern Foods and sell on the remainder of the company.
Greencore agreed a merger with Northern Foods last year which would have seen the creation of a new firm, Essenta, headquartered in Dublin.
But as a takeover panel deadline loomed, Mr Boparan, who owns the Harry Ramsden fish and chop chain, tabled a rival £342m cash offer.
In a statement, Greencore said: “For some time the board of Greencore has believed both in the considerable strategic merits of consolidation in the UK convenience food sector and in the strong logic of a combination between Greencore and Northern Foods.
“Over the past few weeks Greencore has been working with a partner in order to agree a simultaneous sale of certain of the Northern Foods branded businesses.
“This approach was intended to provide significant funding and allow Greencore to acquire only the parts of the Northern Foods business with the greatest synergy potential.
“This relatively complex structure required a range of stakeholders to reach agreement.
“However, after substantial investigation, the board has determined that an improved offer could not be concluded on terms which would deliver sufficiently strong returns to Greencore shareholders.”
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