Dutch company Vion agrees management buyout of UK pork business

Dutch food company Vion has agreed for a management-buyout of its UK pork business, in a deal which will secure nearly 4,000 jobs.

The buyout is being led by Seamus Carr, managing director of Vion’s pork business unit, and is supported by UK private equity firm Endless.

Following the acquisition, which is subject to The Competition Authority’s (TCA) approval in Ireland, Seamus Carr will take up the role of the managing director at the new company.

This move comes after Vion announced in November that it has initiated the process to sell its UK food business, Vion UK, which employs 13,000 people at 38 sites across the country, in order to focus on food operations in the Netherlands and Germany, and develop its global ingredients business.

Currently, the company is in discussions with several prospective buyers for Vion UK’s poultry and red meat divisions, which employ a total of 8,000 staff.

Carr said that the deal will secure the future of the staff and suppliers and give customers a seamless transition.

"Our ambitions for the new business are firstly to maintain the excellent levels of service and product quality which have helped us secure orders from all the major supermarkets and then to build upon the opportunities in the marketplace to grow the business," he added.

Vion’s UK pork business has processing facilities in Wiveliscombe, Malton, Haverhill, Scunthorpe, Hull, Stoke and Enfield in England, at Cookstown in Northern Ireland and a pig farming and feed mill operation in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

It also owns the McGee’s Butchers business in the Republic of Ireland.

Vion, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, has two core activities, food and ingredients, and a turnover of €9.5bn, with a total workforce of 26,500.