John Ross Jr (Aberdeen) Limited and Coln Valley Smokery Limited / PRFoods

Cavendish Corporate Finance, the specialist sell-side M&A firm, has advised on the sale of John Ross Jr. (Aberdeen) Limited (“John Ross”) and Coln Valley Smokery Limited (“Coln Valley”), together “the JRJ Group”, an award-winning, luxury branded smoked salmon producer, to AS PRFoods (“PRFoods”), a leading food production company based in Finland and Estonia.

Founded by Andrew Leigh in 1987, John Ross is a leading brand of luxury traditional smoked salmon and fine food products, as recognised by its Royal Warrant accreditation which is has held for over 20 years. John Ross’s products are sold worldwide and its customer base includes leading retailers such as Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, leading restaurants and international customers.

Coln Valley, an award-winning smoked salmon business based in the English Cotswolds, was acquired by the Group in 2009. The acquisition enhanced the Group’s product offering available to its customers and provided additional channels to market including prestigious sporting events such as Cheltenham, the Henley Royal Regatta and Wimbledon.

PRFoods is an Estonian based group of companies engaged in food processing and sales. The group has been listed on the NASDAQ OMX Tallinn Stock Exchange since 5 May 2010 and as well as being the largest manufacturer of fish in Estonia is also one of the largest fish production brands in Finland.

Cavendish advised the shareholders and management of the JRJ Group, working with the Leigh family over a number of years to prepare the business and then running a competitive sale process. Through its membership of the global advisory firm Oaklins, Cavendish was able to bring a range of buyers from around the world, including PRFoods, into the sale.

The transaction gives a majority exit for the Leigh family, with next generation family-members Vicky Leigh-Pearson and Chris Leigh continuing in senior roles and as shareholders in the Group. The sale to PRFoods provides the Group with an ideal route to leverage the strength of the John Ross and Coln Valley brands, to expand its product range and accelerate sales growth around the world.

Andrew Leigh, Founder and Shareholder of John Ross commented:

“We have greatly enjoyed working with Cavendish over the past few years. As a family owned business, we definitely needed good advice and we felt very well supported by the team at Cavendish. I never imagined we would end up with an Estonian buyer but it is clear that there is an excellent fit with PRFoods, which will be good for the business, our customers and suppliers and for Chris and Vicky who remain as shareholders.”

Jonathan Buxton, Partner at Cavendish Corporate Finance commented:

“We are delighted to have advised the Leigh family on this transaction, allowing the shareholders to realise the significant value that has been created, whilst also enabling family succession and creating a platform for future growth.

The sale of the John Ross Group adds to the Cavendish’s extensive track-record in selling both luxury and branded food businesses, including recent transactions such as the sale of Naked Wines to Majestic and Radley Handbags to Bregal Freshstream.”

Fiona Mc Cormick, Director at Cavendish, concluded:

“Despite last year’s Brexit vote, quality British assets continue to attract significant interest from overseas buyers. The acquisition by PRFoods further demonstrates Cavendish’s expertise in selling premium branded consumer products to international buyers and is an excellent example of the strength of Oaklins, the world’s most experienced mid-market M&A advisor. Leveraging Oaklins’ relationships and deep local connections, we are able to access buyers such as PRFoods around the world. ”

“Thank you very much to the Cavendish team for all of your help and advice on this transaction. We are not sure how would have got to the end without you and you had an ability to find a mid-ground where both sides were happy – this certainly takes some skill.

Thank you for all of your hard work and we would not hesitate in recommending you and your services to anyone else.”

Martin Brown, Founder and majority shareholder of Wine-Searcher

“The Cavendish team, led by Lord Leigh of Hurley and Rebecca McCredie has done a fantastic job in managing the transaction with great skill. They were crucial in delivering this deal and its successful outcome – many thanks to the whole team.”

Johnny Goedhuis, Chairman of Goedhuis Waddesdon Limited

“In completing this transaction, we wanted to ensure that the growth and success of the business that we have built to date is the foundation for further expansion in the years to come. We are delighted with the outcome and we would like to thank the team at finnCap Cavendish for all of their help throughout this process. They are experts at advising founders and entrepreneurs and they provided us with invaluable advice and guidance throughout.”

Hugo Douglas-Pennant and Martyn Bell, co-founders of Bramblecrest

“We are delighted to be partnering with Rockpool. This transaction will enable us to accelerate our long-term growth objectives and help expand our international presence, especially in the US. Karri and Amy achieved a fantastic result for us and their ecommerce sector expertise, professionalism and unwavering dedication throughout the process were instrumental in achieving a successful completion.”

Nick Comer, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Rosetta Brands

“We are immensely grateful for the hard work and expertise we received from finnCap in securing this fundraise. Zuleika’s knowledge and communication skills were outstanding. It is the first time we have raised external funds so we were heavily reliant on their introductions, all of which were a good fit for Ro&Zo. Zuleika’s guidance through the process was exemplary. We are delighted to have chosen Pembroke as our new shareholders and look forward to a long relationship with them as we continue our growth strategy.”

Rachel Heather, CEO and Co-Founder, Ro&Zo

“On behalf of all of the shareholders at Peach, a huge thank you to the team at finnCap Cavendish – they have done a great job. With the unprecedented macro back-drop that we have all been experiencing, we needed an adviser who was thoughtful, tenacious and prepared to go the extra mile. We got of all this in spades from the finnCap Cavendish team and it has been a pleasure to work with them. We would not hesitate to recommend them to other business founders and entrepreneurs who are in need of experience-led judgement and advice.”

Hamish Stoddart, co-founder & CEO, Peach Pubs

“I would also like to thank the team at finnCap Cavendish. They have done a great job in finding us the right buyer and running a smart and efficient process. Their support throughout has been excellent and combined with their commercial approach and sector knowledge, they have made great advisers for us.”

Morgan Davies, Founder of Barburrito

“Joe Stelzer and his team at finnCap Cavendish were the perfect partners as we navigated this exciting next step for the group. The firm’s wealth of expertise in advising entrepreneurial growth businesses, partnered with their quality of service and professionalism was invaluable and helped make this deal function as smoothly as possible.”

Charles Barnett, Managing Director & Founder, Lyco Group

“This transaction is huge for our business as we look to continue our growth journey. We’re very excited to have raised enough capital from a leading impact investor to expand our market-leading position and maintain standards of excellence across all our products. We’re hugely grateful to the team at finnCap, who played a fundamental role, in what we hope, will be a very exciting growth story.”

Ben Wigley, CEO, Big Green Smile

“I would like to thank all of those involved in the process that has concluded with us ultimately choosing Neighborly as our partner going forward, those at finnCap Cavendish and our CFO Mike Bergin, without whom this would have not happened.”

Scott Mullins, President and CEO of Pimlico Plumbers