Brand Partnership receives #8 million

Investee company

Brand Partnership Ltd (UK)

Investee company business type

Manufacture dried mixed foods

Type of financing

Acquisition for expansion

Equity providers

Gresham Trust

Equity leader (individual)

Christian Bruning

Debt provider

N/A

Debt type

N/A

Debt leader (individual)

N/A

Equity amount

£8 million

Total deal value

£8 million

Other advisors

N/A

Comments – Brand Partnership has received £8 million from Gresham Trust to support its acquisition of Telford Foods, a manufacturer of dried soups and sauces, from Netherlands-based Wessanen Group.

Wessanen had decided to sell Telford Foods, as the business was not core to its strategy of focusing on organic foods.

Brand Partnership, based in Leeds, produces dried mixes including savoury rice, soup powders, pasta mixes and hot snack products. Gresham backed the MBI of Brand in 2000, when directors Tim Robertson and Andy Micklethwaite bought the business.

Telford Foods, best known for its Symington’s brand of dried soup, has developed technology for dried foods, which enables the production of granules rather than powder. This technique will be applied to Brand’s products.

Tim Robertshaw, director of Brand Partnership, commented: “The acquisition of Telford brings us product categories adjacent to our existing range and state of the art technology which complements our existing heavy investment programme in new plant and machinery. These are both key elements of our expansion strategy. “Gresham’s continued backing has enabled us to take advantage of this development opportunity.”

Christian Bruning, investment manager at Gresham Trust, said: “Brand has excellent growth prospects, thanks to its strong management and excellent production facilities. We were happy to provide further funding for this acquisition which brings sizeable sales volume and valuable technology.”