Having recently acquired the iconic Birds Eye and Findus frozen food brands and associated assets in Europe, Nomad Foods is now said to be on the prowl for Quorn Foods. The Stokesley, North Yorkshire, UK-headquartered unit of Marlow Foods Limited owned by Exponent Private Equity produces a wide variety of faux meat products made from Mycoprotein, an ingredient produced from fermented fungus and sugar that is naturally low in saturated fat, high in fiber, and has the texture of meat.
However, Nomad Foods, an acquisition vehicle launched in 2014 by billionaire financiers and investors Noam Gottesman (founder and ceo of TOMS Capital) and Martin E. Franklin (co-founder and chairman of Jarden Corp., a diversified consumer products company with annual sales of over $8 billion), may have to outbid one of the world’s largest producers of frozen french fries, as well as other cash-rich suitors, to take over Quorn.
“Nomad and McCain are the two most likely victors in the ensuing bid battle for the company,” wrote Ashley Armstrong, retail correspondent for the London-headquartered Sunday Telegraph, on September 6. “Quorn has been put up for sale by its private equity owner, Exponent, and formal information packages are expected to be sent out to prospective bidders next week.”
Another major food company thought to be interested in purchasing Quorn is Bangkok-headquartered Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP), Thailand’s largest meat and animal feed producer, Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods),
Earlier this year it was reported that Exponent Private Equity, having received feelers from a number of possible buyers including Alpro, the producer of Whitewave soya products in the United States, hired Houlihan Lokey, a US advisory firm, to conduct a strategic review of Quorn.
The expansive Quorn product line runs the gamut from meat-free BBQ chicken bites and crispy fillets to Cumberland sausages, turkey burgers and fajita strips, to meat-free pork pies, lasagna, Thai red curry, pepperoni pizza, cottage pie, Indian vegetable samosas, toad in the hole meals for one, and man other prepared foods.
