Corporate team advises on multi-million pound tasty deal

Our East Midlands corporate team have supported on the multi-million-pound sale of one of the UK’s leading Indian snack brands, Cofresh Snack Foods.

Based in Leicester, Cofresh Snack Foods has been acquired by newly-established Vibrant Foods, a company that specialises in ethnic foods. Two key brands make up Cofresh Snack Foods - Cofresh, the UK’s number one Indian snack brand, which manufactures over 200 traditional South Asian savoury products and Eat Real, the market-leading healthy snacking company and the UK’s number one free-from snacking brand. 

Established by the Patel family in 1974, Cofresh Snack Foods is now a second-generation family business. As selling shareholders, the Patel's will be re-investing in the new business with a minority equity stake. 

We advised the Patel family on all legal and corporate aspects of the deal, including property, tax and employment. Our team, led by Roy Botterill, corporate partner and head of our Leicester office, comprised Roger Harcourt, Lisa Botterill, Jade Price and Ashley Taylor, Ben Darlow and Jonathan Fear, Phil Pepper and Oscar Ciaurro and Ollie Gutman. 

Roy Botterill said: “Cofresh brands are a familiar favourite on supermarket shelves across the country and to see a deal of this magnitude complete – against the backdrop of COVID-19 – is fantastic." 

“It just goes to show that there are still real opportunities, across the East Midlands marketplace and beyond, for innovative, successful brands to secure investment and find buyers. Cofresh and its two brands were a strong proposition for any buyer and we look forward to seeing one of Leicester’s most prominent businesses continuing to grow and thrive.” 

Commenting on the acquisition, Priyesh Patel, shareholder and managing director of Cofresh, said: “Becoming part of Vibrant Foods marks an exciting new chapter in our history. There are tremendous growth opportunities for our sector, as popularity for ethnic and healthy snacking products continues to grow. Our products are well-established in both markets, thanks to the tireless work of our employees and founders, whom I’d like to thank for their support and commitment to excellent customer experience, alongside our global suppliers and customers in the UK and abroad. Being part of a larger group will allow us to accelerate our growth trajectory, maintaining and building our market-leading product offering, and helping us penetrate new markets and distribution channels.” 

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