Moy Park, the Craigavon-based poultry firm with over 9,000 staff, has been put up for sale by JBS of Brazil as it seeks to reduce debt.
The business, which is now one of the UK’s top 10 food firms and one of Europe's biggest poultry producers, is being sold by JBS just two years after it bought it for $1.5bn (£1.2bn), in what was Northern Ireland's biggest ever food deal.
JBS said it was selling Moy Park, among other assets, in order to raise around £1.44bn, which should help it both cut debt and reduce leverage.
With 13 processing and manufacturing units in Northern Ireland, England, France, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, the company has the capacity to process 280 million birds annually, in addition to producing around 200,000 tons of food per year.
Its product portfolio is comprised of a variety of fresh meats, ready-to-eat meals, pre-cooked meals, breaded and frozen foods, vegetarian foods and desserts, supplied to major restaurant chains and retailers in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe.
