Greencore, the convenience food manufacturer, has announced it will sell its entire US business to Illinois-based Hearthside Food Solutions in a $1.1bn (€930m) deal. The sale price represents a 14.2 times multiple of earnings (EBITDA).

It’s less than two years since Greencore announced the acquisition of Peacock Foods for $750m (€650m), which almost doubled the size of Greencore’s US operations at the time.

Greencore said the sale of its US business will allow it to focus on its core UK market. It will also use £293m (€333m) to reduce debt and leave the business with a net debt to earnings ratio in the range of 1.5 to 2 times going forward.

Greencore also announced it will use the net proceeds of the deal to pay a special dividend of 72p per share to shareholders, which will amount to a total cash payout of £509m (€578m). The deal is expected to be completed in November 2018.

Announcing the deal, Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney said the sale would allow Greencore to build on its market leading position in the UK.

“We believe that the proposed sale of our US operation represents a compelling and immediate realisation of value for Greencore's shareholders. We have always had a firm conviction on the underlying value and growth prospects of our US business and believe that this offer fully reflects that,” added Coveney.