Glanbia mulls selling meat business to managers

GLANBIA has entered negotiations for a possible sale of its meats business to a team of senior managers.

The buyout team is led by Glanbia Meats chief executive Jim Hanley, with operations manager Niall Leydon, human resources manager Michael Slevin and finance and strategy manager Andy Fleming as the other members.

Glanbia confirmed in a statement yesterday that it has “entered into negotiations, which may lead to a transaction being concluded whereby the group will sell its meats business to an MBO team”.

It said this development is consistent with Glanbia’s stated objective of focusing investment on key growth areas — cheese, food ingredients, nutrition and selected consumer foods.

Glanbia Meats, which employs 850 people, is the country’s leading pork slaughterer and processor. It produces a large range of products for both the domestic and international markets.

The company operates from two modern slaughtering plants at Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and Edenderry, Co Offaly, (partially destroyed by fire last August). It also operates the only pork head boning facility in Ireland at Clara, Co Offaly, and a bacon curing and processing plant at Jamestown, Co Leitrim.

Glanbia Meats is also one of the largest businesses in pig farming in the country with 4,500 sows held across six farms.

Last year, Glanbia processed 1.2 million animals, or 48.7% of the national supply. It was a small reduction on the numbers processed in 2006.

This was due to the fire which severely damaged its Edenderry plant.

While slaughtering has recommenced at a lower level in Edenderry, the processing of these animals is being completed at a leased facility in Roscrea.

The outcome of the negotiations will be anxiously awaited by pig producers under pressure, especially from rising feed costs, and by trade unions anxious to ensure that the jobs of their members will be protected.