yogurts and desserts, and Vedial, a maker of spreads. In September 1996, Unigate paid £77.25 million for the UK and Italian margarine and spreads business of Kraft Foods International, including Vitalite. In May 1998, the company attempted an unsuccessful £1.59 billion takeover of diversified conglomerate Hillsdown Holdings. In February 1999 the company did acquire Fisher Quality Foods, a UK supplier of sauces, dressings, and marinades, from the Albert Fisher Group for £43 million. In the meantime, Hillsdown under shareholder pressure had begun a break-up, spinning off its chilled convenience food subsidiary as Terranova. In March 1999, Unigate initiated a hostile £228.5 million takeover bid for Terranova, which was accepted after the bid was raised to £274 million. But by the late 1990s, the decline in doorstep deliveries and price pressure from supermarkets led to mounting losses, and in 2000 the milk and cheese division was sold to Dairy Crest. On completion of the sale, the company changed its name to Uniq in July 2000. In 2001, it demerged Wincanton, its logistics subsidiary, by way of an initial public offering. It sold its yoghurt business in 2002 to raise money to concentrate on the convenience foods market. In March 2009 Uniq reached an agreement for the sale of its UK chilled fish business, Pinneys of Scotland, to The Seafood Company Ltd (part of the Foodvest Group). On 12 July 2011, Greencore announced it intended to buy Uniq. The deal was completed in November 2011, and Uniq is now subsumed within the operations of Greencore. Operations The company has sites in Spalding (Smedley's Salads prepared salads), Northampton, Evercreech (former St Ivel site), Minsterley in Shropshire (former site of Northern Foods until May 2004) and Paignton (produces all of Cadbury's chilled desserts such as chocolate mousses). The Northampton site produces most of Marks & Spencer's and Morrisons' prepared sandwiches. References External links Official site Dairy products companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Buckinghamshire Food and drink companies established in 1959 Food manufacturers of the United Kingdom Food and drink companies disestablished in 2011 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange 1959 establishments in England 2011 disestablishments in England