Mills & Reeve advised leading worldwide fruit and vegetable supplier UNIVEG on its acquisition of UK-based fruit company Empire World Trade.

UNIVEG is part of the UNIVEG Group, with its headquarters in Belgium and an annual turnover in excess of €3 billion. The group has 5,700 employees and supplies customers across six continents, supplying 19 out of the 20 largest food retailers in Europe.

Empire World Trade is a leading UK importer and distributor of top fruit located in Spalding, Lincolnshire. The joint businesses will be known as UNIVEG UK and will be managed by Alan Forrester and Mike Harpham, as joint managing directors. David Pratt, as former managing director of EWT, will become a director of UNIVEG UK.

The Mills & Reeve team was led by corporate finance partner Anthony McGurk who said: “We are delighted to have worked with Alan and his team at UNIVEG on this transaction, our first corporate instructions for them. This was a complex transaction and drew on expertise from across the firm, together with our significant experience of acting for businesses in the food and beverage sector.”

Alan Forrester, managing director of UNIVEG UK said: “This acquisition has proved to be complex, challenging and protracted. Throughout the process Anthony and the team at Mills & Reeve have maintained focus with tenacious attention to detail resulting in a successful outcome for our business.”