Firm going Dutch but staying put in Shropshire

The 230-year-old Fullwood Packo Group, the parent company of the Ellesmere-based milking equipment maker, was yesterday acquired by The Verder Group, which is based in the Netherlands.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, brings to an end the 77-year ownership of Fullwood by the Lancaster family.

Richard and Peter Lancaster, who have sold the business, had been its owners for 50 and 52 years respectively.

David O'Hare, Fullwood's chief executive, said workers at the company's Grange Road headquarters, where it employs 160 people out of a total of 575 around the world, would not be affected.

"The family shareholders recognised that it was time to look for a new owner to ensure there is a good succession plan for the long-term security of the business," he said.

"The process of looking for a potential new owner started just over a year ago, and in the Verder Group we found a potential owner that was also family-owned, and whose DNA seemed to fit extremely well together."

While the Packo pumps and cooling systems manufacturing side of the business, which is predominantly based in Belgium under the ownership of the Shropshire parent company, fits with the existing profile of the new owners, Shropshire-based Fullwood's specialised milking machines represent a new area for Verder that will be developed as part of its investments arm.

The company's specialist milking machines have been used in a variety of sectors, and won international acclaim nine years ago when the company helped develop the world's first milking parlour for camels, in Dubai.

Mr O'Hare added: "The first and most important thing is that it's business as usual.

"The business name stays the same, the location stays the same, and we very much want to carry on growing and developing the business as we have for about 100 years here.

"All the significant forward plans we had in terms of investment and new production equipment, our new owners have committed to those."

Andries Verder, chief executive of CEO Verder International, said: "We are very excited to be adding Fullwood Packo to the Verder group of companies. We feel we can support the Fullwood and Packo companies to grow and continue to succeed over the coming years."

Last year, the group achieved turnover of around £71.5 million, or 102 million euros, meaning the acquisition will add around 50 per cent to Verder's 200 million euro annual turnover figure.