Vitacress Gets Green Light for VHB Acquisition

With the purchase of VHB, who have successfully developed the sector for potted fresh herbs, Vitacress can now offer customers a full range of fresh herbs.

Nov 3 2010 --- Vitacress - a wholly owned subsidiary of RAR Group, a Portuguese private company acquired 100% of the capital of Van Heyningen Brothers Limited (VHB), with effect from the 8th September 2010. Based in the south of England, VHB is one of the largest producers and suppliers of fresh herbs to the UK retailers. The completion of this transaction has now been given approval by the Office of Fair Trading.

The two VHB nurseries in West Sussex supply over 14 million pots of fresh herbs per year and over 23 million packs of fresh cut and bunched herbs per year, sourced from own production and selected other British and overseas growers. In 2009, the company had a turnover of £26m (€29m), employing around 320 people.

This transaction marks the next phase in the development of Vitacress’ fresh herbs business. For many years, Vitacress has been growing some of the more popular herbs. In 2008, with the acquisition of Lighthorne Herbs Ltd, the company moved into the speciality fresh herbs sector. With the purchase of VHB, who have successfully developed the sector for potted fresh herbs, Vitacress can now offer customers a full range of fresh herbs.

This latest addition to Vitacress is in line with the RAR Group’s intention of building upon its already strong base of business in the fresh produce sector.

Vitacress Salads, a company of the RAR Group, is the leading supplier of Baby Leaf salads in the UK and Portugal. It has farming operations in the UK, Portugal and Spain, cultivating 1200 hectares. Vitacress has a turnover of 88 million pounds and employs over 900 people.

The RAR Group, one of Portugal’s leading business groups, comprises a portfolio of diversified businesses in the areas of packaging and contract manufacturing, food, property, services and tourism. With consolidated sales of 803 million Euros and around 4900 employees, it is present in Portugal, Germany, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom.