DUBLIN, Ireland -- Ireland-based international convenience food manufacturer Greencore Group plc has agreed to acquire U.S. sandwich maker Marketfare Foods LLC for $36 million 22.6 million British pounds ($36 million U.S.).
Phoenix-based Marketfare is a leading manufacturer of food-to-go products for U.S. convenience stores and other and small stores. Its principal customer is Dallas-based 7-Eleven, which it has partnered with for more than 20 years; it is the largest single supplier of Fresh to Go and 7-Smart store-branded sandwiches, servicing more than 1,100 7-Eleven stores in the Mid-Atlantic region. In addition, it is an exclusive manufacturer of Casa Buena Cheese and Chili sauces for the entire 7-Eleven chain in the United States and Canada.
For the year ended Jan. 27, 2012, revenue for Marketfare was $65 million and EBITDA was $5.7 million. Gross assets at 27 January 2012 were $20.1 million. The $36 million purchase price is on a debt-free, cash-free basis with a normalized level of working capital. The transaction will be funded from existing debt facilities and is expected to complete on 18 April. It is expected to be modestly earnings accretive from the first financial year of ownership. Integration and transaction expenses are estimated at $3.5 million and will be treated as an exceptional item.
"The acquisition of Marketfare represents an excellent opportunity for us to further develop our food to go business in the U.S., building on the successful acquisition of On a Roll in December 2010," said Patrick Coveney, CEO of Greencore. It builds additional scale with 7-Eleven, provides new competencies for us in the fast-growing food-to-go category and extends our geographic footprint principally along the Eastern Seaboard. The new product capability and geographic expansion provide the opportunity to expand further with our existing customers; the acquisition represents the next step in our strategy to build a business of real scale in the U.S."
For more than three decades, Marketfare has developed branded, proprietary and co-pack sandwiches, wraps, burritos and sauces for a wide variety of convenience channels. It provides both brand and product solutions. It supplies products to the convenience, vending, club, super centers, grocery, mass, drug, dollar store trade channels, among others.
Greencore is a leading international manufacturer of convenience foods. It has 20 convenience foods manufacturing sites in the U.K. and the United States. The Convenience Foods Division provides a wide range of chilled, frozen and ambient foods to major retail, manufacturing and foodservice customers in the U.K. and Ireland, as well as many in Continental Europe, the United States and beyond.
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