Greencore Group plc, an Ireland-based international convenience food business, announced the proposed acquisition of Peacock Foods for $747.5 million.

Peacock Foods, Geneva, Ill., is a convenience food manufacturer with strong positions in frozen breakfast sandwiches and kids’ chilled meal kits and salad kits, generating revenues of approximately $1 billion.

“The acquisition of Peacock will transform our US business, strengthen our position in high-growth categories, broaden our channel and customer exposure and add significant scale to our operations,” says Patrick Coveney, chief executive officer of Greencore. “We believe Peacock’s success is built on the same fundamental strategy and values that drive Greencore, making products that consumers love, building deep, long-standing relationships with customers, investing in high-quality manufacturing capacity, food safety capability, and most importantly, people. We are delighted to welcome the Peacock team into the Greencore Group.”

“We are thrilled to be joining the Greencore team at this important time in our growth,” adds Tom Sampson, Peacock Foods CEO. “We have been particularly struck by the similarities in the way we run our business and our mutual long-term commitment to the US convenience food market. We are excited by the opportunity that we now have to leverage Greencore’s expertise in innovation and fresh food manufacturing, thereby bringing a broader set of capabilities to our customers.”

Peacock Foods manufactures convenience food products from seven facilities for large US consumer packaged goods customers, such as Tyson Foods, Kraft Heinz and Dole.

The new US division will be led by Chris Kirke, chief executive officer of Greencore’s US division, Danvers, Mass. Sampson will be appointed as a senior advisor to Greencore, with particular responsibility for managing customer transition and integration over the next two years.