Private equity firm, Sun European Partners, has announced the acquisition of Finlays Horticulture Investments Ltd. and Finlays Horticulture Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiary companies from James Finlay Limited in a deal reportedly worth £100 million.

 

Founded in 1750 in the UK, Finlays in the largest vertically integrated producer and exporter of value added produce and flowers from Africa to the EU. Finlays Horticulture grows, processes, packages, and distributes premium prepared fresh vegetables and cut flowers to the majority of UK retailers including Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, and Sainsbury’s. In addition, in India, Finlays has grown to become a major entity in the tea industry, and more recently, in the rubber and fresh produce sectors.

 

The deal includes the acquisition of Finlays Fresh Produce UK, Finlay Flowers UK, Finlays Horticulture Kenya, Finlays Horticulture Tanzania, Omniflora, Finlay Flowers BV, FV SeleQt, Dudutech, and Finlays Horticulture South Africa.

 

Commenting on the decision to sell, Guy Chambers, managing director of parent company James Finlay said, "Finlays has a unique and integrated global footprint in the beverage industry. We own and operate tea estates, extraction facilities for tea, coffee and plant extracts, packing facilities and R&D labs across four continents. We felt that it was increasingly important to focus on beverages as our core business area, rather than trying to succeed globally at both beverages and horticulture in one company.” 

 

The management team that has overseen Finlay’s horticulture division will remain in place, and the deal is expected to close before the end of the year.