News
Cavendish advises on the sale of Vitacress
2 July 2008Cavendish Corporate Finance is pleased to have advised on the sale of Vitacress, one of the leading growers and marketers of salads in the UK and Portugal, to RAR Group, a Portuguese private company, for £52.5m. The completion of this transaction is subject only to the approval of the Portuguese Competition Commission.
Based in south of England, Vitacress is Europe's supplier of watercress, baby leaf spinach and rocket, farming about 1200 hectares of land in England, Portugal and Spain. The company has a strong presence in the bagged salads market, with special emphasis in the baby leaf segment, where its products are well known for their innovation and excellence.
Vitacress in 2007 had a turnover of £81m (€102m) and an EBITDA of £6.4m (€8.0m), employing around 1,000 employees.
The current CEO of the company, Nick Stenning, will continue to lead a strong 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 the Iberian market.
RAR Group spans a diversified portfolio including contract manufacturing and packaging, food products, real estate, services, tourism and financial investments. With consolidated revenues in 2007 of approximately €800 million, the RAR Group employs around 3,700 employees in Portugal, Spain, Germany, Poland and the UK.
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.
[Jonathan Buxton], Cavendish Partner, commented:
''We were delighted to help secure a strong deal for the Vitacress shareholders and find a buyer which is both sympathetic to the way Vitacress is run and able to accelerate the development of its operations in Spain and Portugal.''