Leeds firm Fullers Foods secures investment from US fund

Beach Point Capital, a $20bn US investment manager, has backed the 150-year-old Leeds business that supplies frozen food to UK retailers.

Fullers Foods, the Leeds-based frozen food specialist that has traded since 1871, has secured investment from a major US fund to support its growth. Beach Point Capital Management, a global investment manager with more than $20bn under management, has taken a stake in the business, which acts as an outsourced buying partner supplying own-label and branded frozen food to UK retailers. The value of the deal was not disclosed. Previous backer Quilvest Capital Partners remains a stakeholder, with Beach Point – which has known the company’s management since 2022 – now coming on board to fund its next phase.

Why This Matters For Leeds

A 150-year-old Leeds firm is exactly the kind of quietly successful business the city is built on, and global investors taking stakes in them is a sign of underlying strength. For the company’s staff and suppliers, fresh backing should mean investment and growth, with the existing chief executive staying in place. And it is a reminder that Leeds’ economy also has food and drink businesses.

What the Fullers Foods deal involves

Founded more than 150 years ago, the Leeds company has grown into one of the UK’s established frozen food suppliers, sourcing products from around the world and selling them to retailers in both own-label and branded form a behind-the-scenes role that puts its products in freezers across the country. The investment looks to be a recapitalisation, Beach Point said it reached the deal while supporting Quilvest, the firm’s existing private equity backer, ‘in reaching its liquidity goals’, with Quilvest staying on as a stakeholder. Beach Point, which is employee-owned and runs offices in Los Angeles, New York, London and Dublin, said it had followed the business since 2022. The company’s chief executive, Kevin Smith, will continue to lead it.

“Fullers is a unique business with a long history of product innovation and category leadership.”

— Jay Takefman, Co-Head of Hybrid Solutions, Beach Point Capital

A vote of confidence in a Leeds institution

For Leeds, the deal is a quiet vote of confidence in a long-standing local business. Fullers Foods is one of the city’s older companies, and attracting backing from a $20bn international investor underlines that Leeds’ food and drink sector has assets that are of interest to global capital. The frozen food category has proved resilient as shoppers watch their budgets, and an outsourced buying partner sits in a useful spot in the supply chain. Chief executive Kevin Smith said he was ‘delighted to reunite with Jay Takefman and the Beach Point team’, pointing to a relationship that predates this deal.