January 25/Middlesbrough, England/Evening Gazette -- Premier Foods has sold its Quorn operation, which has 340 staff across its Billingham and Stokesley operations.
The foods giant accepted a bid of 205 million pounds from Exponent Private Equity and Intermediate Capital Group for its meat-free division, which also includes the Cauldron brand, ending months of speculation over plans for both brands. Premier said the structure of the business, including staff, will remain the same following the sale and Chris Graham, founding partner of Exponent, which has stakes in thetrainline.com and bed store Dreams, said the firm plans to grow the meat-free business further with additional investment.