Houlihan Lokey Advises The Compleat Food Group

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that The Compleat Food Group, a portfolio company of PAI Partners, has acquired Wrights Food Group. The transaction was signed on 24 November 2021 and closed on 8 December 2021.

Wrights Food Group was established in 1926 by Jack and Lizzie Wright, who sold pies to neighbours from their Stoke-on-Trent doorstep. Today, the company manufactures and distributes savoury products, sweet products, and ready meals into retail and foodservice sectors and manages 15 Wrights branded bakery stores across the North West. Winners of the 2019 Bakery Industry Awards title of “Bakery Manufacturer of the Year,” Wrights' innovation has been a cornerstone of the business throughout almost a century of food production, recognising the need for adding value to its product range and investing in blast freezers to bring frozen, ready-to-bake products to bakery independents in 1989.

The Compleat Food Group was formed by the merger of Winterbotham Darby and Addo Food Group in January 2021. The Compleat Food Group is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of chilled prepared food, with an extensive product portfolio across chilled savoury pastry, continental meats, olives and antipasti, and a rapidly expanding plant-based range.

PAI is a European preeminent private equity firm, investing in market-leading companies across the globe with more than €17 billion in assets under management. The firm has eight offices worldwide and more than 120 employees.

This deal represents another successful buyside transaction for Houlihan Lokey in the food industry after supporting Bain Capital on its acquisition of Valeo Foods and aiding Biscuit International, a portfolio company of Platinum Equity, on the acquisition of Continental Bakeries. Houlihan Lokey also acted as the sellside advisor to Winterbotham Darby during its sale to PAI and has been involved with the business in its previous transactions.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to The Compleat Food Group and assisted in negotiating the transaction on its behalf.