Boparan given Northern bid ultimatum

THE British Takeover Panel yesterday told Boparan Holdings it has until 5pm on January 21 to announce its intention to make a bid for the British food group, Northern Foods.

Northern owns Goodfellas pizza and Fox’s biscuits and has agreed a merger with Greencore, the Irish-based convenience food group, whose major activity is making sandwiches for British retail outlets.

Greencore announced the merger deal with Northern in mid-November which will be put to both sets of shareholders at the end of January.