Exponent Private Equity and Intermediate Capital Group have agreed the sale of Quorn Foods to Monde Nissin for an enterprise value of £550m. The sale is expected to complete by October 30th.

Quorn is an international meat alternatives business with a market leading position in 15 countries. 2014 sales were £150.3m.

Monde Nissin is a leading branded consumer goods company in the Philippines. They are building a global branded food business focussed on health and sustainability: Quorn is a great fit for this strategy and complements its recent Australian acquisitions in healthy drinks and dips.

Simon Davidson, partner at Exponent said: “Under Exponent’s ownership Quorn has been transformed into a fast-growing global health brand. Our partnership with the superb management team, led by Kevin Brennan, has created one of the UK’s fastest growing food brands as well as a rapidly growing international business.”

Quorn’s Chief Executive Kevin Brennan commented: “We have an ambition to be the world leader in meat alternatives, ultimately creating a $1bn business. Monde Nissin Corporation’s purchase represents a great step forwards in this ambition; they share our belief in the potential of Quorn, and provide capability to expand the brand into Asia.”

The company will continue to operate from Stokesley, North Yorkshire. Quorn Foods recently invested £30m in capacity in Teesside to enable increased international expansion. This is expected to create more jobs in the area.

Monde Nissin’s CEO Henry Soesanto said “Monde Nissin have been investing in “on-trend, better for you” products internationally in line with our strategy to become a global diversified food company. Quorn represents an important new leg in our offering. We are excited by the growth potential of the global meat alternatives market, which complements our strategy perfectly.”

Chris Graham, partner at Exponent, said “The last 5 years has seen Quorn help take a staggering 60bn calories out of diets and had a Greenhouse Gas benefit equal to 65000 cars not being on the road. Under Monde Nissin’s ownership I am confident it will go on to have a profound impact on both health and sustainability.”

Exponent and ICG were advised by Houlihan Lokey, Perella Weinberg Partners and Spayne Lindsay and legally represented by A&O.

Pre-sale preparation was provided by OC&C Strategy Consultants and KPMG.

Citigroup Global Markets and Courtyard Hill advised Monde Nissin. BDO, BPI and Metro Bank supported Monde Nissin in this transaction. Legal advisors were Linklaters.

Today Quorn Foods has around 620 employees on three UK sites and internationally: Stokesley in North Yorkshire, Billingham on Teesside and Methwold in Norfolk, Frankfurt in Germany, and Chicago, USA.