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Boparan eats up Northern in £342m deal

By Rupert Steiner for the Daily Mail
Updated: 07:32 EDT, 24 March 2011

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Food tycoon Ranjit Boparan has clinched a £342m deal to consume Northern Foods, bringing to an end the Goodfella's pizza-maker's 55-year stint as a publicly listed company.

Ranjit Boparan: Made a fortune supplying poulty to Tesco and Waitrose

The former butcher, who made a £270m fortune supplying poultry to Tesco and Waitrose, declared his offer 'unconditional' yesterday, claiming to control 79.52% of the food group's shares.

The entrepreneur, who gatecrashed an agreed all-share merger between Northern and sandwich maker Greencore, said 54.53% of Northern shareholders had accepted his bid.

Boparan, who started his chicken processing empire Boparan Holdings in 1993, now holds or has agreed to acquire 24.99% of the shares taking him above the 75% threshold required to seal the acquisition.

The final hurdle before he can take Northern private will be to gain approval from competition authorities.

The business started life as Northern Dairies and now owns Fox's biscuits, is Britain's biggest maker of Christmas puddings and a key supplier of ready meals to Marks & Spencer.

Boparan also owns the Buxted chicken brand and employs more than 5,000 across 13 factories in Britain, Holland and America. He has already built up a 6.6% stake in Northern.

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