Apetit to sell fresh-cut business operations to Greenfood

Finnish food firm Apetit has signed an agreement to divest its freshly cut products business operations to Greenfood, a Swedish company which imports, distributes and processes fruit and vegetables.

The business, which delivers to retail and catering customers across Finland, reported sales of €23.2m last year.

Financial details of the deal have not been divulged.

Apetit CEO Juha Vanhainen said: “Apetit has recently made significant investments in improving the efficiency and, consequently, the profitability of its fresh-cut products business operations.

“However, there is considerable competition in the fresh-cut product’s market in Finland, and we have been unable to make these business operations profitable sufficiently quickly.

“Due to this, we have decided to sell our fresh-cut products business operations to a strong international operator with the capacity to further develop these operations on a larger scale. The transaction is expected to improve Apetit’s profitability.”

As part of the deal, Greenfood will acquire Apetit’s plant property in Kivikko, Helsinki, including machinery and equipment.

Currently, Greenfood owns Salico, Satotukku, Picadeli and Snackpoint in Finland.

Completion of the deal is subject to the approval of competition authorities and is expected to take place in the second half of this year.

Upon completion of the deal, the employees of Apetit’s operations will be transferred to Salico.

Greenfood CEO David von Laskowski said: “We believe that, combined with our international expertise, this business transfer will create significant added value for the fresh-cut products business operations, as well as strengthening their cost-competitiveness in particular.”