Irish dairy group Ornua has agreed to buy Cheshire-based cheese ingredients firm F.J Need for an undisclosed sum.
Ornua has been a supplier to F. J Need, which supplies a range of British and Irish cheese ingredients to foodservice and food manufacturing clients for “man years”.
It said the acquisition will “strengthen this important supply channel” and is “central to Ornua’s strategy of further strengthening its core businesses in Germany, North America and the UK”.
It added that it believes there is “significant potential” to grow capacity and take advantage of the rapidly growing foodservice market for cheese ingredients both in the UK and in international markets.
“This potential for expansion into new sectors, including leveraging Ornua’s existing export routes to market, is a key benefit identified by Ornua in concluding the transaction,” Ornua stated.
Kevin Lane, CEO of Ornua said: “This acquisition will be another important milestone in Ornua’s growth as a global supplier of quality dairy products. We are buying an excellent family dairy business, which allows us to significantly strengthen our presence in the UK ingredients sector.
“The complementary nature of our customer bases and the potential to further scale the business makes this a strong fit for Ornua.”
Established over 40 years ago, F. J. Need includes a well-invested cheese cutting, grating and slicing facility, two cheese brands and a distribution fleet.
During the past two years Ornua invested in acquisitions and capital expenditure in Africa, China, Germany, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the UK and the US.
The deal also comes soon after the recent acquisition of US powder ingredient business CoreFX in November 2016.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to UK competition approval.
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