UK-based Sykes Seafood said it has reached a deal to acquire wholesaler Ruskim Seafoods. The combination has created a £ 375 million, pan-European, shrimp-focused seafood business that will offer a market-leading range of products across the retail, wholesale, industry and food service sectors.
The combined businesses will operate from five manufacturing sites and ten distribution centres in the UK, Europe and North Africa and employ over 3,900 people.
Ruskim is a leading supplier of seafoods to the UK and Irish wholesale and Asian Foods sector.
“Ruskim is a company we have long admired,” Sykes Seafood Group CEO Alan Dale said.
Ruskim Seafood Managing Director Bill Mooney said the deal will allow the group to expand operations by utilizing Skykes and Klaas Puul’s facilities and supply network.
Corporate finance advisors Oghma Partners LLP acted as exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of UK-based Sykes Seafood Limited on the acquisition of Ruskim Seafoods Limited.
Tim Owen, Partner at Oghma Partners, said, “We are delighted to be able to work with the Sykes team on the acquisition of Ruskim, and the Ruskim transaction highlights Sykes’s continued role as a key consolidator in the pan-European seafood market. The deal is Oghma Partners’ latest successful transaction within the seafood sector and demonstrates our growing reputation for working with a range of owner-operated, international businesses.”
