Mizkan Europe Ltd. signed a conditional agreement to acquire sweet pickles and table sauces business of Premier Foods plc (LSE:PFD) for £92.5 million in cash on October 30, 2012. For the financial year ended December 31, 2011, sales of the sweet pickles and table sauces business were £66 million, EBITDA was £11.7 million and trading profit was £8.5 million. The gross assets were £81.8 million as at June 30, 2012. The disposal includes Branston sweet pickle, ketchup, relish, salad cream and mayonnaise, together with Premier's Bury St Edmunds factory in Suffolk. All employees at the site are expected to transfer to Mizkan following an appropriate consultation process.

The proceeds of the disposal will be used to pay down debt. The transaction is subject to approval of Premier Foods' shareholders and consent from its banking syndicate. Completion of the transaction is expected to take place early in 2013. As of December 18, 2012, the transaction was approved by the shareholders of Premier Foods. Tom Buchanan and Brian Hudspith of Maitland acted as public relations advisors to Premier Foods. Nick Bryans, Hiroyuki Iwamura, Kit Westropp, Euan Burrows, James Lambert of Ashurst Horitsu Jimusho Gaikokuho Kyodo Jigyo acted as legal advisors to Mizkan Group. Adrian Maguire, Andrew Craig, Emma Mahler, Andrew Sheridan, John Davies, Luke Holland, Giles Pratt and Martim Valente of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP acted as legal advisor for Premier Foods. Neil Sutton, Liam Hennigan, Stephen Boylan, Sam McCloskey, Bo-In Kim, Geoff Eversfield, Paul Chambers and Phil Vellacott of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP acted as accountant to Mizkan Group Corporation.