Lexington Corporate Finance is pleased to announce that it has acted as the Corporate Finance Advisor to the Shareholders of Vorenta Group (“Vorenta”), the parent company of HallMark Meat Hygiene and Meat & Livestock Commercial Services (“MLCSL”) on the sale to Eville & Jones (“E&J”).
Vorenta’ plays a key role in the provision of carcass classification services to the UK meat industry, the deployment of veterinarians under contract to various government departments and portal inspection/export health certification services relating to Product of Animal Origin (POAO).
Leeds based E&J provides official veterinarians and meat hygiene inspectors to undertake Official Controls and export health certification services to exporters of POAO.
Vorenta is a long standing client of Lexington, including advising on the original acquisition of MLCSL in 2018. Thomas Edwards, Pablo Shorney and Adam Jones worked on the transaction for Lexington.
This strategic acquisition will accelerate the growth of the enlarged group. Diederick Opperman and David Peace (MD and Chairman respectively of Vorenta) will both take up roles with the combined businesses.
E&J’s group chief executive, Charles Hartwell said: “Vorenta and E&J are natural partners with shared ambitions and values. This combination accelerates our growth plans and enables us to expand our service offering to both our existing and future customers whilst providing opportunities for our people.”
David Peace commented: “Both E&J and Vorenta have built a reputation for delivering quality, value-adding solutions to the food industry. As part of the expanded E&J group, we will be able to focus our resources to reach and serve more customers and give our people a wider spectrum of opportunity”.
David added “We first worked with Lexington in 2017 and built a strong working relationship with their team and had no hesitation turning to them for their advice and support when we’ve evaluated a strategic or tactical decision for growth. Latterly, their guidance throughout the sale of Vorenta Limited to E&J has been invaluable. Lexington responded swiftly to our needs and were particularly adroit in handling the sensitive discussions between Vorenta and E&J in a confidential and professional manner”.
Thomas Edwards, Director of Lexington said “It’s been a pleasure to have advised Vorenta on this landmark transaction within the UK’s food compliance sector. Vorenta has been a long-standing client of Lexington so it’s really pleasing for us to have gone on their growth journey over the last five years and now advised Diederick and David on Vorenta’s exit to E&J”.