Dawn Farms acquires German cooked meats business Haas

Ireland-based meat firm Dawn Farms has acquired German cooked meats producer Haas to expand its position in the European market.

Founded in 1994, Saarland-headquartered Haas is a supplier of meat ingredients such as pizza toppings, and currently employs around 100 people.

This acquisition will provide Dawn Foods with a production site located outside of the UK and Ireland for the first time. The company stated that operating production sites in continental Europe will allow it to keep its business strong in future despite Brexit uncertainty, and hinted that further acquisitions or production investments were possible.

According to a statement from Dawn Foods, the founder and managing director of Haas, Achim Haas, and the company’s chief operating officer Patrick Treitz will remain at the company following the acquisition.

Larry Murrin, CEO of Dawn Farms said: “We have been servicing customers in the European market for 25 years and this is a really important step to establish a manufacturing presence on the ground from which we can continue to grow our business.

“The Haas family has built a high-quality business over the past 25 years which has an excellent fit with Dawn Farms. Their manufacturing process and products are complementary to ours and we see opportunities to broaden this over time through investment in Nonnweiler-Otzenhausen.

“Our ongoing strategy to expand and grow in Europe has always been based on identifying clear market opportunities across our existing customer base and on the potential for new customer engagement. Haas is an ideal business to further enable the execution of this strategy.”

Achim Haas, managing director of Haas GmbH added: “Dawn Farms is a proven leader in our sector and given the common attributes we enjoy, this partnership makes a lot of sense.

“For Dawn Farms, this deal establishes a significant foothold in the German market. For Haas, it creates an even stronger platform for employees, suppliers and customers.

“We look forward to working with Larry and his team to avail of the opportunities this partnership brings.”