CP Foods to Buy US Frozen Food Bellisio Parent for $1.08bn

17 Nov 2016 --- Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods) is continuing its overseas expansion by acquiring US frozen food business Bellisio Parent for $1.08bn.

CP Foods is owned by Dhanin Chearavanont, Thailand’s richest man estimated to be worth $9bn, who is looking to make CP Foods a global player and expand its food operation beyond Thailand.

The billionaire has multiple interests spanning also retail and telecommunications.

The Thai conglomerate has bought the business from private equity firm Centre Partners.

Bellisio is the third biggest maker and distributor of singe serve frozen entrees in the US, as well as being the biggest in Canada.

Its brands include Michelina's, Boston Market, Chili’s and Atkins, complementing new brands such as EatingWell and EAT.

Bellisio has operations in Ohio, California and Minnesota and made sales of $68m and earnings of $82m in the year to September 2016.

The move by CP Foods marks its second recent overseas investment following its $15.1m investment in a 60 percent stake in UK foodservice supplier Foodfellas last month, its first foray into the UK foodservice market.

Joel Conner, chairman and CEO of Bellisio group, said: “We are deeply grateful to Centre Partners for their support and guidance since partnering with us 5 years ago.”

“At the same time, we are also extremely excited to be part of the CPF family and share their vision of being the ‘Kitchen of the World’. I believe that our partnership with CPF will allow us to propel Bellisio through its next phase of growth.”

Adirek Sripratak, CEO of CPF, said: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Joel and his team to bring Bellisio to its next phase. This transaction marks the first step of our entry into the world's largest food market, where we see significant growth and synergy opportunities.”

“We believe that through leveraging our combined strengths at CPF and Bellisio group, we can bring greater variety of products particularly Asian food products, to US consumers as well as export our products globally. This acquisition is in line with CPF’s strategic direction to expand into high potential market. After the transaction, CPF’s revenue contribution from Food business will rise.”

The deal is expected to close within 180 days.

CP Foods latest quarterly figures reveal it made revenues of 122.5 billion Thai baht ($3.44bn), up 10 percent.

CP Foods is a large conglomerate whose operations span food, including Thai shrimps and livestock.