The takeover bid is understood to be from Capvest, the London based private-equity firm. Earlier this week, CapVest acquired a 32% stake in Irish food firm Valeo Foods from owner Origin Enterprises.

One51 shares trade on the grey market and have seen a high level of activity in recent months. Shares have traded at €1.60 over the past number of weeks and last traded at €1.65 on Thursday. Shares have increased 70% in the past year.

Many of the Irish co-op’s are amongst it’s largest shareholders, after it was spun out of the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society (IAWS). Kerry, Glanbia, Fane Valley, Lakelands and Dairygold along with a number of other co-ops hold a collective stake in the company close to 25%.

Together with Pageant holdings, who hold slightly more than 8%, a number of high net worth individuals such as Larry Goodman, Loughlin Quinn, Dermot Desmond control in total 35% of the group. Goodman’s stake alone is valued in excess of €11m.

This would mean that should any takeover bid be successful, it would need agreement of these two key groups who hold a combined 60% of the company. A number of farmers also invested directly in One51 during the boom times.

In September, One51 offered existing shareholders the option to buy in at €0.90 and resulted in the company raising €22.5m in finance.

The potential acquirer wants to take a controlling interest in the business but is thought to be willing to allow existing shareholders to be part of the new ownership structure.

One51 has been busy restructuring the company which was a victim of the 2008 crash. Revenues increased 10% to €276.5m last year and profits rose from €2.8m to €12.7m. Net debt at year end decreased significantly by €33m to €7.4m. Last year marked the end of a two-year process of selling-off non-core assets, which saw the sale of Irish Pride Bakeries to WHW Bakeries and the sale of Greenore Port to the Burke Shipping group.

Earlier this month it acquired a majority stake (67%) in IPL, a Canadian plastics company with operations in the environmental, bulk-food and retail sectors, for €201m. This acquisition will see the group increase revenues significantly from €276m to €450m while also extending the company’s international reach.

One51 also hopes to liquidate its NTR investment in the coming months.

Seamus Fitzpatrick from Cavan, set up Capvest in 1999 and has raised over €3bn from investors for a number of high-profile buyouts. The company doubled its money when buying the Findus frozen food business for €750m, flipping it for €1.5bn a few years later.

Further coverage in next week's Irish Farmers Journal print edition, out 6 August.