Cavendish advises on the sale of Seafood Holdings

Published December 22, 2010

Cavendish is pleased to announce the sale of Seafood Holdings to Bidvest, the South African based diversified group, for £45 million.

Seafood Holdings is one of the UK's leading national fresh fish suppliers to the foodservice sector, including a number of top restaurants such as Le Caprice, J Sheekey and the Ivy. Seafood Holdings was founded in 1991, since when it has experienced rapid growth, both organically and through a series of substantial acquisitions. At the time of the sale, Seafood Holdings was owned by Risk Capital Partners and Toby Baxendale, its founder and chief executive.

Cavendish ran a structured competitive process which was developed to accommodate a number of international trade purchasers, including acquirors from South America and the Far East. The transaction was concluded with Bidvest within two weeks of agreeing terms.

The sale followed a two year exit planning review conducted by Caroline Belcher (Partner, Head of Exit Review Practice). The transaction was led by Jonathan Buxton (Head of the Cavendish Consumer Group) and Howard Leigh (Senior Partner).

Key to the success of the transaction was the involvement of Cavendish's M&A International partner in South Africa, Grindrod Bank, which used its strong local network and standing in the South African business community to introduce the target to Bidvest at a senior level.

Jonathan Buxton commented ''Seafood Holdings is a complex business, which has made a number of major acquisitions over the past three years, creating some significant potential issues for parties looking to acquire the company. We were delighted to be able to use our exit-planning expertise to prepare the business for sale and then to achieve such a successful outcome.''

Toby Baxendale, founder and CEO of Seafood Holdings, commented ''It has been a great pleasure working with you and your partners. I could not have done that final push of the journey I embarked upon 20 years ago without you. You really did wonderful work for me, especially in that last mile. I am so grateful.''

The sale of Seafood Holdings was the eighth transaction for the Cavendish Consumer Group in 2010, capping a highly successful year for the Group and demonstrating purchasers' on-going appetite for strong UK brands.