Welsh specialty bakery manufacturer Finsbury Foods secured an additional £15 million ($19 million) finance package from HSBC UK and its other banking partners to support the acquisition of gluten free bakery business Ultrapharm.
Finsbury Foods, which produces a broad range of high-quality bread, cake and snack products, agreed to upsize its current £45 million ($59 million) revolving credit facility to make the acquisition. This takes Finsbury’s total borrowing to £60 million ($78.66 million).
The existing revolver provided by banking partners HSBC UK, Royal Bank of Scotland and Rabobank closed in February 2018 to provide the business with a range of working capital facilities, with a further £45 million ($59 million) uncommitted finance facility available to support its acquisition strategy.
The acquisition of Pontypool-based Ultrapharm has enabled Finsbury Foods to take a space in the gluten free market, which will help broaden its current offer, allow it to supply into a larger number of supermarkets across the UK and provide the group with a larger footprint in Europe.
Steve Boyd, group financial director at Finsbury Foods, said, “The acquisition of Ultrapharm is important for us as it accelerates our strategy to diversify within our bakery division by introducing new products, customers and channels. Ultrapharm represents a large step into the fast growing gluten free market, as well as a manufacturing presence in Poland. This has been made possible by HSBC UK and our other banking partners.”
John Stradling, head of large corporate South at HSBC UK, added, “We’ve been working with Finsbury Foods as its lead banking partner for over 20 years and in that time we’ve seen the business go from strength-to-strength. The existing management team is very strategic in the way it approaches acquisition opportunities and this latest buy-out is no exception.”
The Cardiff-based Finsbury Food Group is comprised of a UK bakery division and an overseas division
Ultrapharm, which was established by the Ansell family in 1993, produces a large range of gluten free products, from seeded loaves to muffins and crumpets.
