26th Nov 2018 08:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - Greencore Group PLC on Monday said it completed the sale of its entire US business to Hearthside Food Solutions LLC.
In mid-October, the FTSE 250-listed food company agreed to sell Greencore US to an affiliate of Hearthside for USD1.08 billion in cash.
The bulk of Greencore's US unit was previously known as Peacock Foods and was owned by investment firm Charlesbank until purchased by Greencore in November 2016.
Greencore said it intends to use proceeds from the sale to pay its shareholders a special dividend of 72 pence per share, representing GBP509 million in cash. The remaining proceeds of GBP293 million will be used to reduce leverage and support the company's balance sheet, it said.
Greencore shares were trading up 0.9% on Monday at 195.65 pence each.
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