A US investment firm has backed Chester-headquartered Meadow Foods, the UK's largest independently owned dairy group.
Paine & Partners, which focuses on complex opportunities in the global food and agribusiness sectors, has completed an undisclosed investment into the group.
Following the transaction, the Chantler family will remain a substantial shareholder and there are no plans to change the executive management or broad structure of the business. But the Pickering family will exit as Mead Foods shareholders.
Simon Chantler, executive chairman of Meadow Foods, said: "This investment represents a new and exciting phase in the continued development of our business and will open new avenues of opportunity for all of our producer partners, customers and employees."
Dexter Paine, chairman, chief executive and a founding partner of Paine & Partners, added: "In Meadow Foods, we are making a strategic investment in an industry leader that we believe is poised for continued growth.
"Meadow Foods' experienced management team and employees have built a blue-chip customer base with a well-deserved reputation for innovation and reliable delivery of the highest quality products.
"We see opportunities to drive growth both organically by increasing production, enhancing capabilities and expanding into new product lines and markets, and through strategic acquisitions that leverage the company's supply network and customer relationships."
Meadow Foods claims to be the UK's largest independently owned dairy group, handling more than 500 million litres of milk each year direct from over 550 farmer suppliers based across the North of England, the Midlands, and North and West Wales.
Founded in 1992, the company now operates from factories in Chester, Peterborough and Holme-on-Spalding-Moor and employs more than 275 staff.
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