Management at Chivers Ireland, the jam and jelly firm with 130 employees in Coolock, Dublin, have bought the company. The management buyout (MBO) means the company is now fully Irish-owned and removes any immediate threat to jobs at the plant.
Chivers Ireland was controlled by Hillsdown Holdings, which was recently bought by the global investment company Hicks Muse Tate and Furst. Following this acquisition, the Irish management team agreed with the company to take the Chivers Ireland operations out of the group.
Chivers said the advice it received from the private company unit of IBI Corporate Finance during nine months of negotiations was "brilliant and innovative". Neither Chivers Ireland nor IBI would comment on the amount paid for the operations, with sources pointing to a confidentiality clause in the deal. The Irish company has revenue of around £25 million (€32 million) and industry observers suggested the deal would probably be worth around half this figure, including some debt.
Chivers was founded in 1932 and is a well-known brand. As well as the 130 workers in Coolock, the firm has a facility at Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, where fresh fruits are prepared for use in jam and for canning. This operation employs up to 120 people for two or three months each year.
The management team consists of: Mr Liam O'Rourke, Chivers Ireland managing director; Mr Cathal Drohan, finance director; Mr Maurice Horgan, operations director; and Mr Francis Killeen, sales and marketing director. Mr O'Rourke said last night the four, between them, held around 80 per cent of the company.
"The grocery trade and the food industry in particular in Ireland is going through dramatic and dynamic changes that present opportunities for Chivers Ireland," he said.
The move removes, in the short-term at least, the possibility that the Dublin plant would be closed down as part of a larger restructure. "Manufacturing operations at Coolock were under some threat, and hopefully we have secured it into the future," Mr O'Rourke said.
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