Nomad Foods Limited has announced an agreement to acquire Fortenova Group’s Frozen Food Business Group (FFBG) for an aggregate consideration of approximately €615 million on a debt-free, cash free basis.

FFBG is a leading European frozen food portfolio operating in markets new to Nomad, including Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovenia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro. Its two anchor brands, Ledo and Frikom, have consumer awareness and a top market share in many of these markets and offering a broad range of frozen food products including fish, fruits, vegetables, ready meals, pastry and ice cream.

Stéfan Descheemaeker, Nomad Foods’ chief executive officer, said: “The acquisition of FFBG reinforces Nomad’s European frozen food leadership while strategically expanding our portfolio into attractive new markets and creating an exciting new category adjacency in ice cream.

“Like Birds Eye, Findus and iglo, Ledo and Frikom are institutions in their respective markets with strong consumer awareness and #1 market share. Similar to Nomad, FFBG is singularly focused on frozen food, a fantastic category that is aligned with consumer trends including convenience and sustainability. We plan to leverage our combined pan-European scale, commercial expertise and passion for frozen food while harnessing the unique local characteristics and traditions of FFBG’s brands.”

Noam Gottesman, Nomad Foods’ co-chairman and founder, commented: “We are delighted to announce this acquisition, which is consistent with our growth strategy and builds on our five-year track record of top-tier shareholder value creation. This transaction provides a natural extension to our existing business and creates a new platform for future expansion within Central and Eastern Europe. It also introduces us to ice cream, an exciting new category which opens new potential avenues for growth. Following the acquisition, our annual revenue will approach €3 billion, nearly doubling the revenue base of Iglo Group, our initial anchor acquisition in 2015. We are proud of what we have accomplished so far, and we believe there is much more to come. We look forward to welcoming the FFBG team into the Nomad family.”