Exponent divests 'significant' stake in Meadow to Canadian investor

Min Ho
22 August 2023

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

Exponent has divested a "significant" stake in its food ingredients portfolio company Meadow Foods to Canadian investor Fairfax Financial Holdings, a spokesperson for the sponsor told Unquote.

The founding Chantler family and Exponent will retain a stake in the business following the transaction, he said, without elaborating on the new shareholding structure.

In 2018, Exponent acquired a "significant stake" in the ingredients business alongside the Chantler family, he said. The company sits in Exponent Private Equity Partners III. The sponsor is currently deploying equity via its 2017-vintage fourth fund and in May registered its fifth fund.

Under Exponent's ownership, Meadow has made four acquisitions, most recently this month in the form of Naked Foods, a producer and supplier of fruit and confectionery sauces. Organically, it entered the plant-based market through the construction of a segregated plant based dairy facility in Chester. The GP has also shifted the company's focus from a commodity diary player to a diversified speciality food ingredient supplier with an emphasis on carbon footprint reduction, he said.

Swan Topco, the holding company which acquired Meadow Foods Group in 2018, posted turnover of GBP 465.9m and adjusted EBITDA of GBP 33.1m in the year ending March 2022, according to a Companies House filing.

Company
Meadow is a food ingredients business specialising in dairy, confectionery, ice cream, prepared foods and plant-based. The company employs more than 500 people across five sites in Chester, Peterborough, Holme-on-Spalding Moor, Dolgellau and Headcorn.

People
Exponent - Mark Taylor (partner).
Meadow - Raj Tugnait (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor - Allen & Overy (legal).
Acquirer - Shearman & Sterling (legal).
Management - Macfarlanes (legal).