US private equity firm takes over Polish meat processor
The capital increase will allow the meat industry player to raise QFG’s production capacities, including the development of the company’s third processing plant in the Polish market, as well as introduce innovative technologies to its meat processing activities, Highlander Partners said in a statement.
Following QFG’s takeover by Highlander Partners, the remaining 40% stake in the meat processing business will be maintained by its founders, according to the private equity firm. The amount of the latest deal was not disclosed.
“We are amazed by QFG’s expansion to date. It stems from the company’s unique openness to customer needs. We applaud the innovative approach to business of the founders, who follow best practice and the latest technologies in the global food market, and constantly introduce changes in the company,” said Maciej Rybicki, operating partner at Highlander Partners. “We have just become partners with a well-developed and competitive company, which requires capital and an experienced partner to grow further.”
QFG is based in Radom, a municipality in Poland’s central region, located slightly more than 100km from the country’s capital Warsaw. The firm owns two meat processing facilities in Pionki and Białobrzegi, with a total floorspace of 13,000sq m.
Revenues on the rise
The Polish company’s portfolio consists of various processed meat products made using poultry, beef, pork and mutton. These include wings, pockets, wrapped medallions, steaks, strips, burgers and many others, according to data from QFG.
The company’s customers are retail re-sellers, the hotel, restaurant and café segment and retail customers in Poland, which represents 20% of the firm’s sales, as well as other European countries, with exports accounting for 80% of QFG’s total sales.
Last year, the Radom-based company reported revenues of about PLN117 million (€27m). QFG forecasts this will increase to close to PLN200m (€47m) in 2016, up 70.1% compared with a year earlier. The company is aiming to expand its market position both in the domestic and European markets.
“The convenience food market in Poland and the European Union has been growing at a single-digit pace. Our realistic medium-term goal is the double-digit increase of our company,” said Jaroslaw Krzyzanowski, founder and president of QFG.
QFG was set up as a family business, and it has been active in the Polish meat industry since 1998. The Radom-based firm said it was BRC-, IFS- and HACCP-certified.
Highlander Partners is a middle-market private equity firm investing in North America and Central Europe, with particular focus on the US and Polish market and companies, with sales of between $10m (€9.2m) and $500m (€459m). Set up in 2004, Highlander Partners has US$1bn (€918m) in equity, and QFG will be the first company from the Polish meat industry in its portfolio.
