Nomad Foods completes Findus acquisition
The acquisition includes Findus Group’s continental European businesses in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, France, Spain, and Belgium, as well as the intellectual property and commercialisation rights to the Findus, Lutosa and La Cocinera brands in the respective markets.
The acquired operations include approximately 1,500 employees and six manufacturing facilities. The expanded Nomad business will now employ over 4,300 people in 15 countries with 10 factories. “This scale and reach will help Nomad execute on its innovation strategies, while using consumer insights to tailor its offering for local markets,” said chief executive Stéfan Descheemaeker.
The transaction will make Nomad the largest frozen food company in Western Europe, with leading market share in nine countries (the UK, France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Spain).
“The complementary nature of our footprint and the strength of our combined brands across Europe significantly enhance Nomad’s scale and competitive offering,” said Descheemaeker. “The Birds Eye, Iglo and Findus brands have played key roles in defining the frozen food category over the past decades and, together, will be better positioned to continue bringing fresh and ‘better-for-you’ meal options to consumers across Europe.”
Nomad’s co-founders and co-chairmen, Noam Gottesman and Martin E Franklin, issued a joint statement. “The closing of this acquisition demonstrates our ability to successfully execute against our defined strategy. Bringing these businesses together will yield substantial synergies, which we intend to re-invest in our ongoing growth and expansion. As we work to build a best-in-class global consumer foods company, we are encouraged by the opportunity set and remain focused on creating value for all of our stakeholders.”
