Moy Park Ireland - Made with Irish Chicken.

MOY PARK TO ACQUIRE O'KANE POULTRY

Two of the country's leading poultry firms are to come together in a move designed to accelerate market growth and development for the enlarged business.

Moy Park Limited which is part of the Brazilian food company Marfrig, one of the biggest food companies in the world has today, announced its intention to acquire O'Kane Poultry Limited, subject to due diligence.

Making the announcement, Moy Park CEO Nigel Dunlop said that the coming together of the two businesses would bring significant opportunities for market development and expansion.

Nigel Dunlop said:

"The poultry markets of Ireland, the UK and Europe are growing. By bringing the resources and expertise of Moy Park and O'Kane Poultry together, we are creating a business with the scale and sustainability of supply needed to meet the very significant growth opportunities that exist across Europe.

"Moy Park has always been focused on fresh, high quality, locally-farmed and locally-sourced chicken products and acquiring O’Kane Poultry will greatly increase our scale and capacity, including giving us a foothold in the turkey meat sector in which O'Kane Poultry is a major player. Both businesses have strong brands and supply networks, and the central driver of this deal is to create an even bigger platform for market growth and to build on the significant sales and marketing achievements of both companies.

"The combined company will employ some 8,500 people; of which around 5,000 are based in Northern Ireland. We take our responsibilities as a major employer extremely seriously and the employees of both companies have been fully briefed on this development in advance of today’s announcement. In due course we will be sharing our plans for innovative growth with them.

"O'Kane Poultry is attractive to Moy Park because it complements our existing business model bringing new sources of supply, processing capabilities and market expertise. I am confident that this acquisition will prove to be a very strategic and positive development for the Northern Ireland agri-food sector and enhance the contribution it makes to the wider Northern Ireland economy" said Nigel Dunlop.

Commenting on the announcement, O'Kane Poultry Chairman Billy O'Kane said:

"Established by my father back in 1932 and further developed over the years by my brother Desmond and me, O'Kane Poultry has always been a business with strong family values and its future, and the future of its workforce, matters deeply to us. I believe that today's announcement is a very positive development and that the business will be well placed in the hands of a highly professional company such as Moy Park. As part of the larger Moy Park organisation, the future of the producers who supply O'Kane Poultry is assured, as is Ballymena's position as a major centre of employment for the Ireland’s poultry industry. Overall this announcement is good news for the local agri-food industry and for the wider economy, and is a sign of Moy Park’s confidence in the future of this business" said Billy O'Kane.

Moy Park is one of the best known chicken brands in the Republic of Ireland, and is a major supplier to Tesco Ireland, Dunnes Stores, Musgrave Retail Partners (Supervalu & Centra) and Lidl in addition to Superquinn and local distributors including Nisa, Costcutter, Spar and Vivo.

O’Kanes chicken and turkey products are available from Marks & Spencer, Tesco Ireland and Dunnes Stores.

Moy Park and O'Kane Poultry currently sell around 200 million chickens and 1.5 million turkeys per year.  Both business play a very important role in sustaining the local poultry farming sector and have contracts with around 760 local producers.