IRELAND – Dublin Meat Company, an Irish-owned and family-run craft meat company, is set to acquire Swift Fine Foods in an effort to expand production capabilities for its Fit Foods range.
Swift Fine Foods manufactures the Fit Foods range, which includes breakfasts, soups, snacks, lunches, and evening meals, for Dublin Meat Company.
Fit Foods has been rapidly growing with Dublin Meat Company currently distributing more than 120,000 ready meals a week through retailers including Lidl and Dunnes Stores, its own craft butcher shops, and its online service.
The Dublin-based company plans to leverage Swift Fine Foods’ production capabilities to support the rapidly growing Fit Foods brand.
Swift Fine Food’s planned acquisition follows a “multi-million euro” investment from the Business Growth Fund (BGF) which is funded by UK banks Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Standard Chartered.
Supported by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and three banks, BGF backs Irish companies with investments normally ranging between €1 million and €10 million (US$1.04 million and US$10.39 million).
Both transactions are subject to approval from the CCPC.
Brian O’Leary, CEO of the Dublin Meat Company said the Fit Foods range is experiencing rapid growth, and having their own manufacturing facilities means they will now be able to guarantee the quality and supply of every aspect of the range.
Following completion of the transactions, Joe Higgins, whose role is to identify and execute investments for BGF will join the board of the Irish firm.
Higgins said: “Dublin Meat Company is a fantastic business, and we are delighted to be able to support their exciting growth plans. This is a perfect example of how growth capital can help to transform a business and fuel its growth.
The investment in Dublin Meat and acquisition of Swift Fine Foods comes at a time when market data firm Statista projects the Processed Meat segment that amounts to US$141.70billion in 2022 to grow annually by a CAGR of 0.78% between 2022-2027 in Europe.
While the overall Meat segment amounts to US$387.30billion in 2022 and is expected to grow annually by a CAGR of 2.15% from 2022-to 2027, according to Statista.
The growth will be driven by the rapid growth of the e-commerce sector, growing demand for ready-to-eat meat in restaurants around Europe associated with busy working hours, and urbanization that has led to increased per capita income levels, and premiumization in the meat industry.
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