Bakkavör is an international food manufacturing company specialising in fresh prepared foods. The group's head office is in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

, and was part of the

FTSE 250 The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...

index from early 2018 to 2020. It was listed 27th in the 2015 Sunday Times Top Track 100.

History

Bakkavör was founded in 1986 by the two brothers Ágúst and Lýður Guðmundsson to manufacture and export

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

. They expanded the business by selling

convenience foods Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily po ...

. The company acquired Katsouris Fresh Foods in 1997 and Geest in 2005. Following the

global financial crisis of 2008 Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

, Bakkavör became heavily indebted, forcing the Guðmundsson brothers into emergency talks with the company's bondholders. The Guðmundsson brothers' advisors,

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

, came under scrutiny for its advisory role when the brothers repurchased a major stake in Bakkavör from their investment company,

Exista Klakki (known as Exista until 2011) is an Icelandic financial services group formerly listed on the Iceland Stock Exchange. Its activities are based primarily on insurance underwriting and other financial services, although it is also active in ...

, in 2009. The company delisted from the NASDAQ OMX in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in 2010. Lýdur and Ágúst Guðmundsson faced fraud charges in Iceland in 2012 relating to their ownership of Exista. In 2014 the company simplified its structure, selling its South African operation and a 40% stake in its Italian business later in the year. The company acquired US prepared foods manufacturer B. Robert's Foods in January 2015. In January 2016, Bakk AL Holdings Limited, another company owned by Ágúst and Lýður Guðmundsson and funds managed by

The Baupost Group The Baupost Group is a hedge fund founded in 1982 by Harvard adjunct professor William Poorvu and partners Howard Stevenson, Jordan Baruch and Isaac Auerbach. Seth Klarman, who was asked by Poorvu to help run the fund, remains at its head toda ...

, LLC, purchased shares in the company, taking its ownership to approximately 89% of the outstanding shares. Then in November 2017 the company was the subject of an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the

Operations

The company produces a range of meals, salads, desserts and pizza and bread. In April 2017, many supermarkets had to recall the company's

hummus Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made fr ...

because of poor quality control.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakkavor British companies established in 1986 Convenience food companies Food and drink companies established in 1986 Food manufacturers based in London Seafood companies of the United Kingdom 1986 establishments in England Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Fish processing companies