Barnes Roffe are delighted to announce that it has advised the owners of Bearfields of London on the sale of the business to Irish food group, O’Brien Fine Foods.

Bearfields of London is a family-run business which can trace its roots back to 1906. It is an established ham producer employing more than 100 people at its base in East London. It counts discount retailer Lidl and club store Costco amongst its customers, as well as pub and café groups, catering businesses and independent retailers, supplying both branded and own-label raw and cooked ham.

Dublin-headquartered O’Briens is behind brands including Brady Family, Homebird, and Green Farm. The company also supplies retailers such as Tesco, Lidl and Dunnes Stores on an own-label basis. It employs more than 500 people in facilities in Timahoe, County Kildare and Rathowen, County Westmeath. O’Briens will use the acquisition to enter the UK market and will invest in the London manufacturing facilities.

Steve Bearfield, Managing Director of Bearfields of London, said: “Bearfields have used Barnes Roffe as our accountants for 20 years now, we recently sold the business and it was without hesitation that we used Barnes Roffe to help us with the sale. We also used Barnes Roffe Legal for legal advice on the sale of the business.”

Steve continues, “Although selling a company is never easy, I have to say that all the team led by Layla Martin at Barnes Roffe and Rebecca Gardner at BR Legal were exemplary in their professionalism, they made a very difficult task and time almost seem less and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.”