Thailand-based seafood group Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF) has won the race to buy MWBrands, the owner of brands including John West tuna.
Thai Union said this morning (28 July) that it would buy MWBrands from private equity firm Trilantic Capital in a deal that values the France-based firm at EUR680m (US$883m).
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Speculation over the future of MWBrands first emerged in April when it was reported that Trilantic was looking to sell a business it bought from Heinz in 2006 for EUR425m.
MWBrands, which also owns French and Italian tuna brands Petit Navire and Mareblu, was said to have attracted interest from seafood groups and other buyout houses.
However, TUF president Thiraphong Chansiri said today that his company’s acquisition of MWBrands was a “transformational opportunity” for the business.
“MWBrands’ strong European footprint will also provide us with further business opportunities in the future through a strong customer base, distribution, and brand leadership,” he said.
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By GlobalDataThe deal, which remains subject to competition approval, will see a third of TUF’s sales come from Europe – up from a current 11%.
Joe Cohen, partner at Trilantic Capital Partners, added: “We are proud to have been involved with MW Brands from its inception as a carve out of various businesses from Heinz to becoming the leading European canned seafood company. We believe that TUF represents an excellent buyer of the business and the combined company will be able to generate important synergies through procurement, new product development and global sales.”
