Food-to-go group Greencore agrees £1.2bn takeover of rival Bakkavor
Supermarket sandwich maker Greencore has agreed a £1.2bn takeover deal for rival Bakkavor in a move that will create a food-to-go giant with around 30,500 staff.
Under the cash-and-shares deal, Greencore will pay £2 a share for Bakkavor, which it said is a 33 per cent premium on Bakkavor’s closing share price on March 13.
The tie-up – structured as a reverse takeover – will form a combined food group with annual sales of about £4bn which supplies many of the UK’s biggest supermarkets and retailers.
But the groups warned over job cuts and factory closures as part of aims to save at least £80m in costs a year after the deal.
They plan to strip out duplicate headquarters and back office operations, such as administration and support, while they said around 5 per cent of the cost savings would come from reducing combined manufacturing sites, impacting some factory workers.
They estimated that up to around 5 per cent of the total combined workforce could be cut.
However, the firms said they do not expect “material” redundancies as many of the role cuts will come from not replacing staff as they leave, not filling outstanding vacancies and pausing some hiring plans.
Greencore shareholders will own around 56 per cent of the combined group and Bakkavor the remaining 44 per cent stake following the takeover, which is expected to complete in early 2026 if approved by regulators and shareholders.
“The boards of Greencore and Bakkavor believe that a combination will drive significant benefits for customers and colleagues of both companies and will make a significant continuing contribution to the UK economy,” according to the firms.
Greencore is a prepared food specialist, which supplies all major UK supermarkets, as well as the likes of Marks & Spencer.
It has its headquarters in Dublin, with a UK head office in Worksop and 16 factories across the UK, as well as 17 distribution centres.
The group supplies nearly 750 million food-to-go items each year and employs about 13,300 staff.
London-headquartered Bakkavor employs around 17,200 staff across 40 sites in the UK, US and China, with about 20 factories in the UK.
It makes around 3,100 different freshly prepared food products, including meals, salads, desserts, dips, sauces, sandwiches, and pizza and bread products.
Leslie Van de Walle, chair of Greencore, said: “We have long admired Bakkavor and we are pleased to announce a transaction that will create a true UK leader in convenience food.”