A NEW venture between a Herefordshire company and a leading Brazilian food manufacturer is to be set up in Worcester.

Hereford-based Sun Valley Foods has signed an agreement with Sadia to form a joint undertaking in the UK called Concordia Foods Limited.

It will be an equal partnership between the companies and will operate independently from Sun Valley's and Sadia's existing food manufacturing import, distribution and agricultural businesses in the UK and Europe.

It will specialise in the distribution of both primary and added value cuts of raw poultry to the retail, food service and manufacturing trade in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

"Sun Valley has had a working relationship with Sadia for the last 18 months," said Hugh Guill, managing director of Sun Valley Foods.

"During this time, the two companies have formed a strong strategic alliance and the joint venture is a natural progression and formalisation of this relationship for both parties."

The news comes less than four months after Sun Valley, Hereford's largest private sector employer, sold the Wolverhampton side of the business to main competitors RF Brookes, part of the Rank, Hovis McDougal group.

The move came after it struggled to find volume orders for its recipe Indian and Chinese dishes, made for prestigious stores such as Marks & Spencer and Morrison's, to make the Wolverhampton operation profitable.

Concordia Foods Ltd will be operational from Sunday, July 1, 2001, after details have been finalised at the end of June.

It will be managed by an executive board made up of representatives from both Sun Valley and Sadia.

Sun Valley board director, Jim Middleton, general manager David Andrzejewski and controller Mark Wannell will be joined on the board by three directors from Sadia's operations in Europe.