Chilled food giant Daniels Group is taken over by US firm for a cool £164m

The Leeds-based firm was sold by its Singapore owners SATS, a food and aircraft ground handling firm, to the British arm of Hain Celestial Group.

Hain will pay an initial £151m with a further £13m to be paid over the next two years if Daniels meets certain earnings targets. The Daniels Group produces and distributes food products such as New Covent Garden Soup and Johnsons Juices.

It manufactures its products across six UK sites and generated sales of approximately £175m in its last financial year. KPMG’s Leeds-based transaction services team provided due diligence to SATS on the deal.

Partner Chris Stott said: “It’s exciting to play a role in a great local deal; especially one that helps Northern companies to demonstrate why they are an attractive acquisition in a challenged sector.

“Rising raw material costs and falling consumer spend are beating up many businesses in the food and drink sector.”

However, he added: “It is the strength of these companies’ brands, such as New Covent Garden Soup, and their robust cost base management, including commodity pricing issues, were critical to this deal.”