Birds Eye owner Nomad Foods has added Findus Switzerland to its growing frozen empire in a €110m (£97.8m) deal.
The transaction unifies the Findus brand across Europe under the Nomad umbrella, with the group already owning the frozen food business in Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark following a £500m acquisition in 2015.
Findus is the leading frozen food brand in Switzerland with a portfolio of value-added frozen products across categories, including fish, vegetables and ready meals.
The acquisition expands Nomad’s geographic reach into Switzerland, a new and sizable market for the group, providing an extension for its Findus product offering and portfolio of other brands.
Nomad said the Swiss market would be “an attractive entry point” for its plant-based Green Cuisine range.
“We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of Findus Switzerland, a brand and market which closely complement our existing portfolio,” Nomad CEO Stéfan Descheemaeker said.
“By unifying the Findus brand under Nomad Foods’ ownership and extending our geographic reach into Switzerland, we believe we have multiple levers for long-term value creation. We look forward to welcoming the Findus Switzerland team into our organisation.”
Nomad co-chairman and founder Noam Gottesman added: “The acquisition of Findus Switzerland reinforces our strategy of growing through a combination of organic growth and complementary, accretive M&A.
“We have long admired this business, and we are excited to build on its success by leveraging the resources, capabilities and scale of our organisation.”
Nomad, which also owns Iglo, Birds Eye, Goodfella’s and Aunt Bessie’s, acquired Findus Switzerland from ice cream maker Froneri International, a joint venture between Nestlé and French PE house PAI Partners created in 2016 from the merger of Nestlé’s European ice cream business and PAI-owned R&R to create Froneri.
The sale is expected to be funded with cash on a debt-free basis, and the transaction is expected to be completed in the beginning of 2021.
Goldman Sachs International acted as financial advisor and Norton Rose Fulbright and Lenz & Staehelin are acting as legal advisors to Nomad Foods.
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