Cargill keeps Bilbrook site in merger deal with Faccenda

And the move is set to mean new jobs at the factory, on the Balliol Business Park at Bilbrook.

Cargill, a global agricultural giant founded in the Mid-West 150 years ago, is the Balliol site after striking a deal with rival Faccenda Foods to create a new UK business employing 6,000 people.

The deal will include Faccenda’s sites at Dudley, where it employs 200, and Telford, which has 1,200 workers.

The Balliol site employs around 150 and Cargill says it will continue to process and sell cooked poultry products there, as well as operate its poultry import, trading and distribution business.

The site produces breaded and battered chicken products for an un-named “leading quick service food restaurant chain”. The 13 acre site has the capacity to produce up to 19,000 tonnes of chicken products per year.

Cargill's UK fresh chicken processing sites go the pot for a merger the companies hope will create a leading UK food group focused on chicken, turkey and duck.

The move to merge the two poultry heavyweights has received a wary welcome from union leaders. Unite’s lead national officer for the food sector Joe Clarke said: “We are giving this proposed merger a cautious welcome. It is early days for this joint venture, but we think that this agreement may be a positive development for both businesses.

“It will increase the strength of these companies within a very tough sector, especially as Brexit looms.

“The consultation process starts on October 9 and our goal is to get clarity about future job security for our approximately 2,000 members currently employed by these two companies. Job retention is key for us.

“We wish to work constructively to maintain and further develop our working arrangements with both these firms.”

Unite has members at the Cargill poultry sites at Hereford, Newent in Gloucestershire and at Wolverhampton, and at the Faccenda plant at Brackley, Northamptonshire.

Cargill and Faccenda said the new joint venture would be a standalone business with them taking equal shares.

Andy Dawkins, managing director for Faccenda Foods, will be appointed chief executive officer of the newly formed company. Chris Hall, fresh chicken director for Cargill Meats Europe, will be appointed chief commercial officer of the new joint venture.

Chris Langholz, president of Minneapolis-based Cargill Poultry, said: “We believe the two organisations are complementary. Combining into one entity allows us to build on our strengths, grow in the market and better serve our customers. The venture will facilitate greater opportunities to innovate and deliver new and exciting poultry products for consumers,” explains Chris Langholz, President of Cargill Poultry.

Ian Faccenda, chief executive officer of Faccenda Investments, added: “This is an exciting time. We are bringing together talented people from both businesses with complementary values and expertise, and giving them the opportunity to develop and be successful in a new business with the capability to grow.”

Faccenda is the second-largest chicken processing company in the UK,.

It employs around 1,000 people at its Hortonwood site in Telford, which underwent a £35m expansion in 2015. That site alone can now process two million chickens a week.

The site in Dudley, which was used for cutting chickens and whose operations moved to Telford after the investment, has been reopened as part of Faccenda's convenience operation.