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The Northern Irish agri food business Fane Valley has acquired Silver Hill Foods.
The acquisition has been welcomed by the Steele family who set-up the Monaghan-based duck farm business in 1962.
“This is a good news story for our employees first and foremost, for Emyvale and for all our growers, suppliers and customers, especially with Brexit causing uncertainty in this region,” Stuart Steele of Silver Hill said.
Increased output from 36,000 ducks per week to 82,500 ducks per week
“Fane Valley has been our long-term feed nutrition partner for over two decades, so this was a very natural fit for both companies.”
The current management team of Silver Hill will remain in place and be joined by new directors on the board from Fane Valley.
The company reportedly had several interested buyers from overseas and up to 70% of their business is export led, but Silver Hill Farm stated that they had chosen Fane Valley as they shared the same values as Silver Hill.
With 240 employees, Silver Hill also wanted to prioritise keeping jobs in Emyvale, Co Monaghan.
Last year, the company confirmed that they had increased output from 36,000 ducks per week to 82,500 ducks per week and completed a centre of excellence in 2016.
Fane Valley
Fane Valley said that they were committed to future investment in production facilities at the Emyvale site.
They said they wanted to see Silver Hill meet the growing demand from Asian markets.
“We have been impressed by the development and performance of the Silver Hill Foods business over many years and we look forward to working with the Silver Hill team as we seek to realise the undoubted opportunities for their unique range of high-quality duck products in the global marketplace,” Fane Valley Group chief executive Trevor Lockhart said.
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