Aidan Cotter to chair ABP Food/Fane Valley Joint Venture

ABP Food Group and Northern Ireland's Fane Valley Group have appointed Aidan Cotter as chairman of the board of the Slaney Foods/Irish Country Meats joint venture.

The joint venture is a 50:50 partnership between ABP Food Group and Fane Valley Group and includes the Slaney Foods international beef business and the sheep meat specialist, Irish Country Meats (ICM).

Mr Cotter is a former chief executive of Bord Bia (Irish Food Board) from 2004 until his retirement in January this year.

Mr Cotter served as chief executive of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, from 2004 until January, 2017, having brought to the position a wealth of knowledge and experience in food marketing. Mr. Cotter previously served in Bord Bia as director of operations, and earlier gained extensive experience in the marketplace as the organisation's European director, based in its London office, and prior to that in Dusseldorf.

In 2016, Irish food and drink exports recorded their seventh successive year of growth to exceed €11 billion for the first time, and reaching out to over 180 markets around the world. During his tenure as chief executive, he led the creation and roll-out of Origin Green, the world's first national sustainability programme for food and drink, and oversaw the establishment of Bord Bia's Consumer Insight Centre and the extension of its office network eastwards, opening new offices in Warsaw, Dubai, in Shanghai and in Singapore.

Bord Bia was ranked by 5,000 members of the general public, in the RepTrak 2016 study, as the most reputable organisation in the country.

Mr. Cotter holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management in the UK and has Master's Degree in Economic Science and Agricultural Economics from University College Dublin (UCD). In September 2013, he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from UCD.

ABP Food Group is one of Europe's leading privately owned agribusiness companies. It is the largest beef processor in Ireland and the UK. The company also operates substantial renewable, pet food and protein divisions. ABP Food Group employs 10,000 people and has 41 manufacturing plants in Ireland, UK, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Holland, France and Spain. The company's beef division is a major exporter of Irish beef. ABP Food Group is a founding member of Origin Green.

Fane Valley Group, headquartered at Moira in Northern Ireland, is a progressive and successful agri-food business with interests in red meats, feed compounding, agricultural supplies, porridge oats and breakfast cereals, animal by-products and fat processing, operating as a market leader across Europe. The co-operative was formed in 1903 and is farmer owned and farmer controlled.