Newlat Food has acquired snack manufacturer Symington’s for £53 million.
The Italian food group aims to use the acquisition to consolidate its UK presence with particular interest in the expansion of its pasta and bakery products.
Symington’s is best known for its variety of pastas, noodles, baking kits and condiments. It also produces popular ranges such as Mug Shot, Twistd, Chicken Tonight and Ragu, with distribution across the UK, US and Australia.
Newlat highlighted several opportunities for synergy that it will be working on through the partnership.
This includes plans for 100 new products to be launched in the instant hot snacks market from 2021 to 2024.
Other avenues include the Italian producer supplying the company with 6000 tonnes of pasta, in a bid to boost production.
The assets included in the purchase agreement include Symington’s three production plants and one distribution centre in Northern England, which have generated recurring revenues of £105 million over the past two years.
Symington’s chief executive David Cox said it is “fantastic” news that Newlat wants to invest in its business and brands.
READ MORE: S-Ventures acquires Pulsin for £7.5m
“It provides long-term security for our business with an international ambient and dairy food player operating in mutually beneficial categories and is an exciting time for us both,” Cox said.
“By bringing together both businesses we can combine our strengths, accelerate our growth and increase our global footprint.
“Symington’s provides a strong springboard for Newlat’s brands into the UK market and Newlat gives us further opportunities for us to grow our brands internationally where Newlat has operations – in Italy and Germany.”
Newlat chairman Angelo Matrolia added: “We are happy to announce the acquisition of Symington’s.
“This is an interesting business with high potential for growth and we deem it to be a perfect fit into our strategic plan.
“We see a number of synergies between our businesses as we both produce complementary but different categories of products.
“Not only will there be significant cost synergies but also, this acquisition allows us to enlarge and diversify our product range and our geographical reach.This opportunity enables us to set foot into the UK and thus consolidate our position in this extremely relevant market,” Matrolia concluded.
“We are ready to invest in the business and to support its international expansion.”
Click here to sign up to Grocery Gazette’s free daily email newsletter
