Boparan handed deadline for Northern Foods offer

RANJIT Boparan, the so-called "chicken king of Birmingham", has been given a deadline of 21 January to make a firm offer for Northern Foods, which continues to back a merger with sandwich maker Greencore.

The entrepreneur, who made his name by selling poultry products to Tesco and Waitrose, has been told by the City's Takeover Panel to clarify a statement made last month that he was mulling a bid for Northern Foods - whose brands also include Goodfella's pizzas and Matthew Walker Christmas puddings.

A 300 million offer from Boparan, who also owns the Harry Ramsden's fish and chip restaurant chain, could potentially derail Northern Foods' agreed tie-up with Greencore on which shareholders are due to vote on 31 January. The deal would create a new company called Essenta with annual sales of about 1.7 billion.

Northern Foods yesterday repeated its support for the Greencore deal. It said: "The board continues to believe that the proposed merger with Greencore Group … offers substantial benefits for its shareholders, customers and employees and will create a convenience foods business with a strong platform for further growth and the potential to realise significant cost savings through synergies."

In November Boparan more than doubled his holding in Northern Foods to 6.6 per cent.