Wednesday 9^th September 2015

Oghma Partners Reviews Chinese M&A activity in the European Food & Beverage Industry

Oghma Partners is pleased to announce the release of its September 2015 M&A review. In this edition there is a special feature on examining Chinese investment in the European Food & Beverage sector.

Investment from China and the Far East has, to some extent taken on mythical proportions with sellers often referencing the prospect of potential Asian and Chinese interest in particular for their businesses.

Our brief overview of activity by Chinese companies in the European Food & beverage industry over the last ten years highlights that a very modest 23 targets were acquired in the space since 2004. Furthermore the majority of transactions have been wine or beverage related transactions accounting for 60% of all the deals. The overview therefore questions the importance of China as an investor in the sector going forward, based on the track record of the last ten years.

The M&A Review is available upon request from the Oghma Partners website and the Partners welcome any further queries from interested parties, either as regards the review or the work of Oghma Partners.

For the full press release please click here.

18^th May 2015

Oghma Partners LLP is pleased to announce the release of the First Tertial 2015 M&A Review of the UK Food & Beverage Sector.

The review looks at activity in the Food & Beverage sector for the first four months of 2015. The review highlights that the disposal of Iglo, and the sale of 40% of the equity of Weetabix to majority shareholder China Bright, drove a 185% increase in deal value in the first four months of 2015 compared to the same period last year. Outside of these two ‘mega –transactions,’ deal value was far more subdued.

To request a copy of the review or for further information on Oghma Partners, please do get in touch via our “Contact us” link on our website;

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15^th May 2015

Oghma Partners LLP is pleased to announce the release of the First Tertial 2015 M&A Review of the UK Food & Beverage Sector.

 The review looks at activity in the Food & Beverage sector for the first four months of 2015. The review highlights that deal value bucked the UK market trend and recorded a significant increase compared to that recorded in the same period of 2014. For further detailed analysis please enquire about the review and request to be put on our mailing list for future updates.

To request a copy of the review or for further information on Oghma Partners, please do get in touch via our “Contact us” link on our website;

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10^th May 2015

Oghma Partners LLP is pleased to announce it will shortly be releasing its First Tertial 2015 M&A Review of the UK Food & Beverage Sector.

The report highlights a number of transactions where buyers have sort to expand their footprints in niche but high growth sectors. Following on the year end closing of the acquisition of Frozen Yoghurts business Taste Trends Ltd to Lakeland Dairies, the first four months of the year has seen, in a similar way, Aurivo acquire For Goodness Shakes, a protein based sports recovery drinks business, and AG Barr acquire Funkin Ltd, a premium cocktails solutions business. Both these target companies operate in niche but high growth, and frequently high margin, segments of the food and beverage industry.

To request a copy of the M&A review or for further information on Oghma Partners, please get in touch via our “Contact us” link on our website;

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Oghma Partners LLP is pleased to announce the release of the 2014 M&A Review of the UK Food & Beverage Sector.

As well as analysing M&A activity over the previous 12 months, the review looks forward to 2015, discussing how the forthcoming UK General Election may effect deal volume and how the big disposals from 2014 may fare under their new ownership.

To request a copy or for further information on Oghma Partners, please do get in touch via our “Contact us” link.

Oghma Partners LLP (“Oghma Partners”) is pleased to announce its role as exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of Surrey based Taste Trends Limited (“Taste Trends”) with regards to the sale of the business to Lakeland Dairies Co-operative Society Limited of Ireland (“Lakeland Dairies”). The deal was completed at the end of December 2014.

Taste Trends is the leading supplier of frozen yogurts to the UK food service industry. Lakeland Dairies is a leading dairy processing co-operative and a global market leader in the manufacturing of dairy-based products, exporting to 70 countries worldwide.

Michael Hanley, Chief Executive of Lakeland Dairies said, “We’re very pleased to make this acquisition where Taste Trends is an excellent business with innovative products, highly experienced management, great customers and strong growth prospects.  We look forward to serving the business development needs of our valued foodservice customers across the UK and to developing this opportunity further across our international foodservice business using our well defined routes to market throughout the globe.”

Taste Trends Transaction Completes Successful 2014 for Oghma Partners

The completion of the sale of Taste Trends rounds off a successful year for Oghma Partners, with the completion of nine transactions in the year across a number of consumer industry sub-sectors and across multiple geographies. In addition to Taste Trends, the completed transactions during the year were:

• 1 September 2014: Oghma Partners advised DS Smith Plc on the sales of its Flamingo (Denmark) and Cellplast (Sweden) packaging businesses to BEWi Group (Norway);
• 30 July 2014: Oghma Partners advised Irish Dairy Board/Adams Food Ingredients Limited on the acquisition of dairy ingredients business FoodTec UK Limited from Dairy Crest plc;
• 2 July 2014: Oghma Partners advised the shareholders of Softbox Systems Limited, a temperature controlled packaging business, on the sale of a majority stake to Great Point Partners, LLC (US);
• 1 July 2014: Oghma Partners advised DS Smith Plc on the sale of its UK print solutions business to MBM Print & Supply Chain Solutions Limited;
• 23 May 2014: Oghma Partners advised Cargill Inc on the sale of its Spanish texturising compounds business to Mane Group (France);
• 1 February 2014: Oghma Partners advised the shareholders of Mary Berry and Daughter Limited, a salad dressings and sauces business, to RH Amar Limited;
• 31 January 2014: Oghma Partners advised DS Smith Plc on the sale of its Cool Logistics packaging business to Pelican Products Inc (US).

For further information or for details on Oghma Partners’ services please contact:

Oghma Partners LLP is pleased to announce the release of the 2014 M&A Review of the UK Food & Beverage Sector.

The report highlights several of the key transactions that took place in the Food & Beverage sector in 2014, including the sale of United Biscuits, Premier Foods’ disposal of Hovis and the flotation of Fevertree.

The total number of M&A deals in 2014 was at a similar level to 2013, with strong activity in the second half of the year. Further analysis is contained within the review.

To request a copy or for further information on Oghma Partners, please do get in touch via our “Contact us” link.

Oghma Partners LLP is pleased to announce its role as exclusive corporate finance adviser to DS Smith Plc in relation to the following transaction, which completed on 1st September 2014:

DS Smith Plc disposes of EPS and EPP Packaging business

September 1, 2014

Oghma Partners LLP (“Oghma Partners”, “Oghma”) is pleased to announce its role as exclusive financial adviser to DS Smith Plc (“DS Smith”) in relation to the £24m sale of its Danish and Swedish Expanded Polystyrene (“EPS”) and Expanded Polypropylene (“EPP”) packaging entities to Norwegian EPS specialist BEWi Produkter AS (“BEWi Group”). The transactions were signed on 24 June 2014 and completed on 1 September 2014.

With a combined 6 sites across the two geographies, the Flamingo (Denmark) and Cellplast (Sweden) businesses focus on the design and production of packaging and technical products made from EPS and EPP.

The businesses will become part of BEWi Group, a family-run packaging company backed by private equity company Verdane Capital. BEWi Group has been developing and manufacturing EPS products since the company started in 1980, and both Flamingo and Cellplast will play an important part in fulfilling BEWi’s vision of becoming the  leading EPS company in Northern Europe.

Managing Director of DS Smith Denmark, Thomas Kure Jakobsen, said of the transaction:
“DS Smith Plc’s focus lies in continuously positioning ourselves as the market leader within innovative recycled packaging solutions for consumer goods, and our core business will always be corrugated and corrugated-related accessories. Our EPS activities represent a very healthy business with a big potential, which we would very much like to see being realized, and we completely trust BEWi Group to be able to do that with their vast experience in EPS manufacturing and their highly specialized business. Not only is the sale of our EPS businesses a natural next step for both DS Smith and BEWi Group, it is a genuine win/win situation.”

For the full press release please click here.

Oghma Partners LLP is pleased to announce its role as exclusive corporate finance adviser to The Irish Dairy Board in relation to the following transaction, which completed on 30th July 2014:

Irish Dairy Board Acquires FoodTec UK

July 30, 2014

The Irish Dairy Board (‘IDB’) is pleased to announce its wholly owned subsidiary Adams Food Ingredients Limited (‘AFI’), has acquired the business and assets of FoodTec UK Limited (‘FoodTec’), a specialist ingredients business, from Dairy Crest.

AFI, located in Leek, is a food ingredient powder blending business which specialises in sourcing, formulating, blending and packing food ingredients for UK food manufacturers and nutrition brands.

Commenting on the announcement, Joe Collins, Managing Director of the Irish Dairy Board Dairy Trading & Ingredients division said: ‘The FoodTec acquisition presents exciting opportunities to grow both the AFI and FoodTec businesses in collaboration with both existing and new customers across new products, technologies and processes.  The acquisition is also in-line with IDB’s strategy to invest in growth dairy businesses that deliver strong returns to our members, Ireland’s dairy processors and Irish dairy farmers.”

The completion of this transaction brings to seven the number of acquisition and disposal processes completed by Oghma Partners in the year to date.

For the full press release please click here.