THE maker of meat substitute Quorn was acquired by Premier Foods yesterday for £172m.

Marlow Foods, of Stokesley North Yorkshire, whose only brand is Quorn, was sold to Premier by Montagu Private Equity.

Quorn will be Premier's largest brand, joining labels such as Ambrosia custard, Branston Pickle, HP Sauce and Typhoo Tea.

Quorn is the UK's largest meat alternative brand, with annual sales of £95m.

It is used in a range of products including burgers, sausages, mince, cottage pie and cold deli slices. It has a 60 per cent share of the £155m alternative meat market in the UK and is also selling well in Switzerland, Belgium and Holland.

Robert Schofield, chief executive of Premier Foods, said: "Quorn is ideally placed to benefit from the increasing demand for healthy eating and the combination with Premier should accelerate its growth."

The deal is one of Premier's first since listing on the stock market in July with a value of £527m.

Marlow Foods will be run by the existing management team. The deal is expected to bring savings of about £4m a year by 2008 in areas such as administration and purchasing.

No job losses are expected among the 360 staff, who are employed in Stokesley and Belasis, Teesside.

The management team of Marlow Foods also have a stake in the company, which they will have to keep for 18 months under the terms of the deal.

The company posted pre-tax profits of £4.6m on sales of £79m in the year to December 31. Quorn has achieved annual sales growth of more than seven per cent a year in the past five years and is recognised by 90 per cent of UK consumers.