Princes' £182m Premier deal

Food and drinks group Princes snapped up household brands including Crosse & Blackwell and Fray Bentos from Premier Foods in a £182 million deal yesterday.

Liverpool-based Princes, which is owned by Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, will acquire Premier's canned grocery operation with factories employing more than 1,000 people.

It has also secured a licence to make products under the Branston and Batchelors brands.

The sale comes less than a month after Premier offloaded its meat-free business Quorn for 205m in a drive to lower its debt mountain, which stood at 1.4 billion in June.