Livekindly Production has agreed to acquire Dalco Food, the Dutch vegan and vegetarian unit of UK meat giant Hilton Food Group.
In a statement today (31 July), Livekindly CEO David Suarez said Dalco’s product development and client base will benefit the US business.
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“Dalco’s established position in B2B and private label, its customer relationships and R&D capability will strengthen our ability to serve customers, accelerate innovation and continue building a world-class platform for sustainable growth,” Suarez said.
The £5.4m ($7.3m) deal follows Livekindly’s move last month to acquire Germany’s Greenforce Future Food, which sells plant-based alternatives to meat, egg and cheese.
In a separate statement, Hilton said the sale of Dalco is in line with its strategy to focus on its “core” meat and fresh prepared food operations.
Hilton has been weighing up its options for parts of its business, a process that concluded in March.
That assessment began last year under former CEO Steve Murrells, who stepped down unexpectedly in November.
Murrells was replaced by executive chair Mark Allen.
The UK private-label protein supplier took full ownership of Dalco in 2021 after making its initial investment in 2019.
During the first six months of the year, Dalco posted an adjusted operating loss of roughly £2m.
Hilton was founded in 1994 to operate a beef and lamb packing plant in England supplying Tesco.
Since then, it has expanded into a supplier serving retailers across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
The company also widened its portfolio through acquisitions including seafood company Seachill in 2017 and Dutch salmon processor Foppen in 2021.
In March, Hilton said it was putting Dalco, Seachill and Foppen under “separate dedicated leadership”, noting it was “limiting future investment” at the operations.
At the time, Allen added: “We are executing improvement plans in Seachill, Foppen and Dalco, businesses that have limited synergy with the group’s core capabilities, to increase strategic optionality.”
