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Panelto Foods, an Irish bakery group specialising in bake-off artisan breads, is to establish a UK and Ireland platform within the European Bakery Group. European Bakery Group was formed in May 2023 with the combination of Dutch Bakery, a bakery group specialising in home bake-off bread and snack products, and coolback, a German bakery group specialising in bake-off bread. Dutch Bakery, coolback and Panelto Foods will be key pillars of the European Bakery Group going forward, investment manager 3i Group announced. Panelto Foods’ key product categories are pre-packed thaw and display rolls, bake-off sandwich bread and rolls, and bake-off loaves and baguettes. The enlarged bakery group will benefit from a complementary product assortment and customer base across Europe, 3i said in a statement. It aims to enable European Bakery Group to capitalise on its capabilities to offer its customers an innovative and high-quality product assortment, produced sustainably with natural ingredients at its core. Brian O’Grady, CEO of Panelto Foods said: “We are delighted to be joining European Bakery Group. Together, we will be able to reach new markets, capitalise further on the growth opportunities within the UK, Ireland and Europe and benefit from the size and scale of the combined platform.” The transaction is subject to customary merger clearance.