A British entrepreneur on Tuesday acquired Five Star Fish Ltd., one of the United Kingdom’s largest seafood suppliers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ranjit Boparan, who founded poultry processor 2 Sisters Food Group in 1993, scooped up the Grimsby-based company from administrator Deloitte LLP; Five Star Fish went into administration in late February soon after its parent company, British Seafood Group, went into administration.
Five Star Fish has doubled its annual turnover to around GBP 65 million (USD 98.6 million, EUR 73.7 million) in the past three years and employs 330 workers at its Grimsby headquarters; no job losses are expected as a result of the acquisition. Its customers include retail heavyweights Morrisons and Iceland Foods and numerous foodservice chains.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have bought this fantastic business,” said Boparan. “It’s a brilliant, innovative company with a terrific team of people who’ve skillfully guided the business to its present heights, and we’re going to do everything we can to help them continue to build and expand upon that success.”
Boparan is expanding his seafood empire; he purchased the Fishworks seafood chain in January 2009 and iconic fish-and-chips chain Harry Ramsden’s in February.
The poultry tycoon brought Fishworks out of administration, retaining four restaurants and closing six underperforming restaurants in an effort to turn around the struggling chain. As for the 82-year-old, 35-unit Harry Ramsden’s chain, Boparan plans to open 100 locations across the UK and in India and China over the next five years.
