Pork supplier Karro Food Group has secured a £74m funding package to support UK and international expansion.
The agreement with GE Capital and RBS Invoice Finance would inject momentum into Karro’s expansion and acquisition plans, executive chairwoman Di Walker said.
Over the past two years, Karro has upped profitability by more than £20m as sales reached £533m. It has also just started an £8m upgrade at its largest facility in Northern Ireland.
“Karro has transformed from an internally operationally focused business to one that is now focused on future growth,” Walker added. “This will be further evidenced by our latest accounts, to be announced over the coming weeks, which are set to show a significant underlying improvement in the profitability of the business.”
Karro supplies fresh pork and cured, cooked and frozen meats to retail, foodservice and manufacturing customers. It employs about 3,000 staff across the UK and has nine divisions in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
GE Capital portfolio director Craig Johnson said: “We’ve been delighted with Karro Food Group’s progress since agreeing our original partnership with the company in 2013 and are really excited to be extending this relationship as we continue to support its management team during the next chapter of Karro’s growth journey.”
Andy Pickford, corporate business development director at RBS Invoice Finance, added: “Karro Food Group is a leading player in the UK food market and this deal will help it deliver on its organic and M&A growth strategy.”
Karro was advised on the funding deal by the capital and debt advisory team at EY, led by Chris Lowe and Robert Jones.
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