According to Irish Examiner, Brazilian meatpacker, Marfrig, which owns Moy Park, will pay half the amount now and the second half in June next year. O'Kane, based in Ballymena in County Antrim has the capacity to process 120,000 chickens and 5,000 turkeys a day and had sales of £132 million (€153.13 million) last year.

The deal will bring together two of the country's top poultry firms in a move designed to accelerate market growth for the enlarged business.

Moy Park chief executive Nigel Dunlop said: "The poultry markets of Ireland, the UK and Europe are growing. By bringing the resources and expertise of Moy Park and O'Kane Poultry together, we are creating a business with the scale and sustainability of supply needed to meet the very significant growth opportunities that exist across Europe."

He said acquiring O'Kane Poultry will greatly increase the company's scale and capacity, including giving it a foothold in the turkey meat sector in which O'Kane Poultry is a major player.

The combined company will employ 8,500 staff, 5,000 of whom will be based in Northern Ireland.

Mr Dunlop told Irish Examiner: "We take our responsibilities as a major employer extremely seriously and the employees of both companies have been fully briefed on this development in advance of the announcement. In due course, we will be sharing our plans for innovative growth with them.

"I am confident that this acquisition will prove to be a very strategic and positive development for the agri-food sector."

O'Kane Poultry chairman, Billy O'Kane, said he believes the business will be "well placed in the hands of a highly professional company".

"As part of the larger Moy Park organisation, the future of the producers who supply O'Kane Poultry is assured, as is Ballymena's position as a major centre of employment for Ireland's poultry industry," he said.

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