Nomad Foods adds Goodfella’s Pizza to frozen portfolio, as food M&A picks up

Nomad Foods Ltd. (NYSE: NOMD) has reached an agreement to purchase Green Isle Foods, owner of GoodFella’s Pizza, for approximately $311 million in capital. The target will join Nomad’s other frozen food brands, including: Bird’s Eye, Iglo and Findus.

Green Isle Foods, headquartered in Kildare, Ireland, is one of Ireland’s largest producers of branded frozen food products. The target also distributes private label food products. The Goodfella’s pizza brand was founded in 1993 and accounts for majority of Green Isle Foods’ revenues, holding top two market share positions in the frozen pizza category across the U.K. and Ireland. The acquisition also includes the San Marco brand and two frozen pizza production facilities. Green Isle Foods was previously owned by a subsidiary of Boparan Holdings Ltd.

Nomad Foods, based in the British Virgin Islands, also distributes frozen and packaged food products. The buyer markets a variety of brands across 17 countries. The deal for Green Isle Foods is expected to be funded through cash-on-hand and the transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.

Nomad Foods' founder Noam Gottesman says over the past two years ,the company has "successfully integrated two of Europe’s largest frozen food businesses while strengthening the core product offering. With strong organic revenue growth momentum, the time is right to expand into new strategic categories such as pizza, which offer adjacent avenues for further growth and synergies. The Goodfella’s Pizza brands and team broaden our product offering and customer reach, and solidify our market leadership within the United Kingdom and Ireland.”

Consumers are eating out less, cooking more at home, and the trend is hurting restaurant sales while driving up interest in purveyors of frozen food. In other recent food and beverage deals, Vestar Capital Partners agreed to acquire snacks producer Nonni's Food Group from Wind Point Partners; Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq; SBUX) has agreed to sell the Tazo tea brand to Unilever plc; and Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) has agreed to buy deli meats producer Columbus Manufacturing Inc.