Portuguese company RAR Group has bought up the speciality leafy salad supplier Vitacress and its wholesale market business Vitacress Sales.
The sale became effective on Monday and is subject to Portuguese competition authority approval.
Hampshire-based Vitacress is well-known as a leading salad marketeer in the UK with additional production bases in Portugal and Spain. It is Europe’s largest supplier of watercress, baby leaf and has 1,200ha under production. The company has a strong presence in the bagged salads market, with special emphasis in the baby leaf segment.
Vitacress in 2007 had a turnover of £81m (€102m) and an EBITDA of £6.4m (€8m), employing around 1,000 employees.
Chief executive Nick Stenning will continue to lead the management team, focusing on the consolidation and expansion of this business. This signifies a new phase in the development of Vitacress, allowing for an increase in the scale of its operations, particularly in Spain and Portugal.
This acquisition is in the same sector as the business developed by Wight Salads Group, which was acquired by RAR Group in 2007 and is a leader in the production and sale of tomatoes in the UK.
RAR Group has a diverse portfolio including contract manufacturing and packaging, food products, real estate, services, tourism and financial investments.
RAR’s purchase also includes Vitacress Sales which has wholesale market operations in Cardiff, New Spitalfields, Birmingham and Western International.
Approval by the competition authorities is expected in the next four to eight weeks, Vitacress finance director Mark Wilson confirmed. “Business will continue as usual and there will be no name changes for the company,” Wilson told freshinfo, “nor will there be any redundancies.”
No comments yet