Food and drink group Princes is to be acquired by an Italian giant in a deal worth £700m, it has been confirmed.
Mitsubishi Corporation, which has owned the Liverpool-headquartered group since 1989, is to sell it to Newlat Food S.p.A.
Princes was founded in Liverpool in 1880 as Simpson & Roberts and its licenced and owned brands include Branston, Batchelors’, Flora, Olivio, Crisp ‘n’ Dry and Jucee.
Princes Group’s chief executive Simon Harrison, said: “This is an exciting prospect for Princes, and we are delighted that Newlat share our confidence in the group’s strategic growth plans, brand strategy, operational excellence and people culture.
“The intended sale remains an ongoing process and further information will be shared in due course.”
Princes lost over £50m and cut more than 150 jobs
The deal comes after City A.M. reported in January that Princes had cut over 150 jobs while slipping to a loss of more than £50m despite its revenue rising by £300m.
The company reduced its headcount from 6,475 to 6,309 in the 12 months to March 31, 2023. The redundancies were made after Princes also cut over 300 jobs in its prior financial year.
Princes went from making a pre-tax profit of £28.9m to a loss of £50.6m over the same period while its revenue increased from £1.4bn to £1.7bn during the year.
As well as its Liverpool head office, Princes has sites across continental Europe, managed from The Netherlands.
There are also dedicated sales and marketing offices in Poland, tuna processing facilities in Mauritius, tomato processing in Italy and edible oils production in Poland.
Princes’ new owner eyes €5bn group by 2030
Newlat is an international agro-food group producing and distributing dairy, baby food, pasta, bakery, gluten free, instant hot snacks and other specialty food products, mainly under its own brands as well as private label.
Newlat has operations in Italy, the UK, Germany and France, through its subsidiaries Centrale del Latte d’Italia, Symington’s, Newlat GmbH and EM Foods. Newlat Food S.p.A and its subsidiary Centrale del Latte d’Italia are both listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.
When the deal completes, Newlat Food S.p.A and its group will become ‘New Princes Group’.
Princes Limited will retain its identity and operate as a UK-based subsidiary of the group.
The newly formed group will have a global operating network of 31 factories and a portfolio across 10 distinct categories.
Newlat said the new group would have a combined revenue of around c.€2.8bn (£2.3bn) and an adjusted EBITDA of c.€190m.
It added that the management is “optimistic” of increasing its revenue to €5bn (£4.2bn) by 2030.
Consultation with the Dutch Works Council of Princes is required before the final purchase agreement is signed and the transaction is also subject to the receipt of a number of customary regulatory approvals, finalisation of the group’s audited accounts and consultation with the European Works Council.