The Dealer has been thinking about the latest round of meat factory takeovers and is wondering what will happen next. The ABP acquisition of two Scotbeef sites came a bit out of the blue, but then there has been nobody better than Larry Goodman at spotting an opportunity and acting on it for several decades.

The Dawn move for Kildare Chilling had been speculated on for so long, that it had almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy; with only the CCPC now standing in the way of completion. Speaking of Kildare Chilling, I see that the deal has a nice potential dowry with the report of a €2.5m grant package announced last week. If this move had been expected, the decision to get out of the French joint venture with Elivia came as more of a surprise.

Of course, the decision to sell its share back to the original owners will generate a nice pool of cash for the Dawn business, and that has left me wondering what they will do with it.

If the pattern of recent years is anything to go by, they are unlikely to leave it sitting in the bank, and the Dealer wouldn’t be surprised if they were to make a move on further acquisitions, either in Ireland or the UK – or maybe both.