Ex-Tayto owner Coyle’s €4m Green Isle stake

FORMER Tayto crisps owner Ray Coyle stumped up €4.3m to back the €22m acquisition of Green Isle Foods and Donegal Catch, filings at the Companies Registration Office reveal.

They also show that the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) injected almost €6.9m into the deal, while a Guernsey firm invested €3.2m.

The takeover of the assets from UK food baron Ranjit Singh Boparan’s 2 Sisters Food Group was put together by Maurice Hickey, a former managing director of Largo Foods.

Mr Hickey has injected €222,000 into one of the vehicles used to effect the acquisition, which also received debt funding from Ulster Bank.

The Irish Independent first named Mr Hickey as the buyer last October. The sale was confirmed earlier this month, with Isif saying it had taken the largest equity stake in the transaction.

Filings confirm Isif as the single largest equity investor in the deal.

Mr Coyle, who still owns Tayto Park in Co Meath, made his investment in the deal via his Irish Bison firm. Largo Foods, which owns the Tayto brand, is now owned by Germany’s Intersnack.

At the time the Green Isle transaction was confirmed, other unnamed private investors were also said to have participated.

The beneficial owners of the Guernsey firm that invested €3.2m in the deal – Hotel Developments – are not listed in company filings, however.