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Home » News » 2 Sisters Food Group Ltd Purchase » Clipping 2 Sisters Group Buys Up Family Poultry Business
The Gazette
Tuesday 22 January 2008
Workers at Mid Devon's largest employer, Lloyd Maunder, learned yesterday that the family-run poultry firm had been bought by a major European food company.The announcement follows weeks of rumours circulating in Mid Devon about a possible buy-out of one of the area's most high-profile businesses.
The poultry firm has been purchased by 2 Sisters Food Group Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
The new owners say they have plans for future investment.
Lloyd Maunder, based at Willand, pioneered the production of poultry for the retail market 50 years ago.
Today it is the UK's leading producer of specialist poultry retailed in supermarkets nationwide.
Staff were briefed on the changes throughout yesterday. A spokesperson said: "Staff and suppliers will hopefully have had the opportunity to have been briefed by the end of the day."
Lloyd Maunder's current directors, Peter, Andrew and Richard Maunder, are all remaining with the company
"Ultimately, this is good news for poultry production in the region," said Andrew Maunder.
By staying on, he said, the directors hoped to help make it as smooth a transition as possible.
"There will obviously be changes ahead but I believe these will be favourable, creating lots of opportunity over the coming months and years," he said.
The spokesperson said the deal had been signed and sealed on Friday, following a series of negotiations over a number of months.
Lloyd Maunder's chain of 15 butchers shops in Devon and Cornwall is not included in the 2 Sisters acquisition. These will remain with Lloyd Maunder Holdings and continue to be managed by the current shops team, overseen by Andrew Maunder.
"We are a family of butchers," he said. "It's how the business started way back in 1898. Our shops are currently going from strength to strength and this latest development with the poultry side of the business won't affect their progress."
2 Sisters Food Group, based in the West Midlands, supples chicken products to the retail, food service and food manufacturing sectors. It has annual sales of more than half a billion pounds and 4,500 staff employed across 12 sites in the UK, plus operations in Holland and the USA.
"We're planning to develop the operation further as a regional centre of excellence for specialist poultry production," said Ranjit Singh, founder and CEO of 2 Sisters Food Group. "Lloyd Maunder has been a leading light in the UK poultry industry for 50 years and we'll be looking to build on that success.
"By acquiring such a good production base in the South West, we can now offer national pricing to our customers, but via local sourcing. This is good news for our carbon footprint."
Lloyd Maunder employs 800 staff at its Willand site and works with 157 family-run farms to produce 500,000 chickens a week.
As part of the deal, the land assets at Willand are being leased to 2 Sisters by Lloyd Maunder Holdings. Existing plans to redevelop those parts of the site not used in the poultry operation will still be progressed.
A spokesperson said further details of how the acquisition will affect Lloyd Maunder will be established in the coming weeks.