Cranswick purchases issued share capital of Crown

UK-based food maker Cranswick has purchased the entire issued share capital of the poultry producer CCL Holdings (Crown), as well as its wholly owned subsidiary Crown Chicken, for £40m.

Cranswick has bought the East Anglia-based poultry business from the Thacker family and management, while the acquisition has been funded from existing bank facilities.

The poultry farm breeds, rears and processes fresh chicken to supply it to a wide range of grocery retail, wholesale, food service and manufacturing channels.

The business also has an efficient milling operation that not only produces required feed for its own business, but also supplies it to other pig and poultry producers in East Anglia.

Cranswick chief executive officer Adam Couch said: "Crown is a well-respected operator in the UK poultry sector and represents an excellent opportunity for Cranswick to continue the development of its UK poultry business, building on the highly successful acquisition of Benson Park, the market leading producer of premium cooked poultry, in October 2014.

"This acquisition represents important progress in our long-term growth strategy of developing new product channels in both pork and other proteins."

With the acquisition, Mill director Nigel Armes and Agricultural director Matthew Ward will continue to serve the poultry business, the present chairman David Thacker retires from Crown.