Icelandic food producer Fram Foods hf has bought all the shares in one of the largest herring producers in Finland, Boyfood Oy.

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Boyfood Oy sells herring under the well known trademark of BOY and is also a major producer of private label herring, Fram Foods said in a statement.


Fram Foods’ annual revenue is estimated to be €55m (US$66.8m) after the transaction. The purchase price is confidential.


Until this transaction Boyfood had been owned by Matti Ruuska since it was founded in 1977. According to him, Boyfood has always had a strong connection with Iceland and Icelandic herring, since the quality of Icelandic herring has helped make BOY the strongest brand in the Finnish market. The Finns are among the largest consumers of herring in the world.


“Boyfood Oy has always had strong links to Iceland and Icelandic herring. The sale of Boyfood to an Icelandic company will strengthen Boyfood’s position in the Finnish market by securing the continued link to Icelandic quality,” Ruuska said.”  He will continue on the board of Boyfood Oy after the transaction.

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Fram Foods expects to expand and develop the BOY brand and build on the quality that the brand stands for. Halldór Thorarinsson, the chairman of the board of Fram Foods, said that Boyfood was a solid company which Fram Foods intends to strengthen further.
 
“Boyfood has long been at the forefront in the production and marketing of herring products,” he said. “It has managed to combine outstanding production methods with a high quality end product. We are enlarging Fram Foods in order to follow the trend in the European retail market, where retailers are steadily increasing in size. Boyfood has contracts with all the largest retailers in Finland. The transaction will therefore enlarge our market area, and make us one of the strongest companies within our field in the Nordic region.”

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