Organic vegetable box company Abel & Cole has been acquired by the William Jackson Food Group (WJFG).
The acquisition by the WJFG - which also owns salad supplier Hazeldene and vegetable producer Parripak - is thought to have been in the tens of millions of pounds range.
The deal, which went through today, will give the WJFG 100 per cent share capital control of Abel & Cole and it has been confirmed that the fruit and veg box business will continue to be run by the current management regime.
'With our new partners, we have the security and stability we need to grow and we can carry on delivering the best veg boxes imaginable to our wonderful customers,' said Keith Abel, chairman of Abel & Cole.
Abel & Cole has been up for sale privately since January 2011 with PwC appointed to handle the process. The FPJ reported that the company was up for sale last month.
However, despite sales thought to have been hit since the recession, the company's turnover rose 32 per cent to £46.5m in the year ending August 12.
Norman Soutar, chief executive of the William Jackson Food Group, concluded: “Abel & Cole has some exciting plans for the future and now they are part of the William Jackson Food Group we can provide support to help them realise their ambitions.”
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