Us : Convenience food group Greencore said on Monday that it has completed the sale of its entire US business to rival Hearthside for € 863 million.
The group first announced the sale of the business back in October, when it said it would sell its entire US business, which had sold sandwiches, salads and sushi to customers including Starbucks and 7-Eleven in the US, for $1.1 billion (€ 863 million) to rival food manufacturer Hearthside. Part of the proceeds from the sale, which received shareholder approval in early November, will go back to shareholders in the form of a special € 509 million dividend, worth 72p per share.
At the time, chief executive Patrick Coveney said that while Greencore had had no plans to exit the US market, it decided to do so because it was offered a “fabulous deal” on the business.
“We had no strategy to exit the US market. We felt we were making very good progress in not only scaling up but delivering progressively better returns on our US business…But because of the value creation that was available through the combination of Hearthside and Greencore USA, we felt and feel the right thing to do for shareholders is to crystallise the value of what we’ve built in America,” he said.
