Eight Fifty Food Group, one of private-equity firm CapVest’s two major food platforms in the UK and Ireland, is reportedly weighing up a move to list in London.
CapVest formed Eight Fifty when it bought Young’s Seafood last year and put the UK fish processor together with Karro Food Group, the UK pork-products business the private-equity house snapped up in 2017.
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By GlobalDataSky News today (17 September) reported Eight Fifty is in talks with investment bankers about starting preparation work for an IPO. Unnamed sources told the broadcaster there is no set timetable for a move.
Approached by just-food, Eight Fifty and CapVest refused to be drawn on the report.
A spokesperson for Eight Fifty said: “We don’t comment on rumour or speculation. As a major food group made up of Karro Food Limited and Young’s Seafood, we continue to focus on providing great food to customers across pork and seafood. We are excited about the ongoing opportunity to create an ambitious multi-protein food business of considerable scale with a combined platform in two important protein categories that are experiencing consistent long-term growth.”
A CapVest spokesperson said: “We’re not commenting on speculation in the market.”
In May, Eight Fifty made its first acquisition since its formation, snapping up Irish meat-products company M&M Walshe Holdings. The deal pushed Eight Fifty’s annual sales to around GBP1.4bn (US$1.81bn) and meant it employed more than 7,500 people across 19 sites in the UK and Ireland.
CapVest’s other principal holding in the food sectors of the UK and Ireland is Valeo Foods, initially formed in 2010 to acquire two Ireland-based food businesses – Batchelors and Origin Foods.
A year later, CapVest added a third Irish food manufacturer to that platform, Jacob Fruitfield Food Group. Throughout the decade, more deals have been done. In 2014, Valeo bought UK honey supplier Rowse and followed that deal a year later with the purchase of Italian cake and biscuit maker Balconi Industria Dolciaria.
In 2017, Valeo acquired the UK and Czech confectionery assets of Finland’s Raisio. A year later, it bought another UK candy supplier, Tangerine Confectionery. In 2019, Valeo snapped up Campbell Soup Co.’s European snack assets.
Six years ago, CapVest successfully listed Scandi Standard, the Sweden-based poultry business the private-equity house had formed a year earlier through the combination of processors Kronfågel and Cardinal Foods.
