9th August 2017
DSW’s Yorkshire & North East corporate finance team has provided independent advice to one of the selling shareholders in Heron Foods in its sale to EV Retail, a subsidiary of Speke- headquartered discount retailer B&M, in a £152m deal.
The transaction followed a period of review of strategic options for the group and several months of negotiations.
Heron Foods, which was founded in 1979 and now has 251 stores, operates predominantly in the North of England and its head office is in Hull.
For the year ending 31 December 2016, the Heron Food Group posted revenues of £274.4m, EBITDA of £19.1m, and profits before tax of £8.6m.
Heron is currently managed and owned by Andrew, David and Michael Heuck. Michael Heuck is retiring from the business as planned, while Andrew and David Heuck remain in their existing trading and finance roles with Heron Foods. DSW provided Andrew Heuck with independent advice alongside Hull law firm, Rollits.
B&M, alongside the existing Heron management team, will continue to expand and develop the Heron Foods business, initially through the addition of between 10 and 20 new stores per year.