A Tipperary food company has been sold to a leading UK group.
Fethard-based pork processor, M&M Walshe Holdings, has been purchased by the Eight Fifty Food Group.
The Walshe family have been involved with M&M Walshe since the business was founded in 1981 – they will remain involved once the deal is complete.
They have three sites – RibWorld in Fethard, Callan Bacon in Kilkenny and Stirchley Bacon in Redditch in the UK where they produce gammon, bacon and sous-vide meat.
With sales of over 100 million per year M&M Walshe employs around 550 people in all.
The acquisition will mean the Eight Fifty Food Group will have sales of around 1.6 billion Euro and employ more than 7,500 people across 19 sites in the UK and Ireland.
The Eight Fifty Food Group was created from the merger of UK-based pork processor Karro and the Youngs Seafood brand.
The deal is subject to approval from the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. No details of the amount paid has been given.
