clipped from business.guardian.co.uk

Britain's best-known Indian food brand, Patak's, is being sold by its founding family in a deal thought to be worth more than £100m.

The buyer of the business, famous for its pickles and chutneys, is Associated British Foods, whose brands range from Sunblest bread to Silver Spoon sugar, Twinings tea and Ovaltine.

The company was founded in 1957 by Kirit's father, Laxmishanker, who came to Britain in the 1950s as a refugee from Kenya, with his wife and six children. He is said to have had just £5 in his pocket when he arrived in the country.

He soon realised there was a market in London for Asian food and began producing samosas in the family's small kitchen, later saving enough to buy his first shop.

Now the business, which has a factory in Leigh, Lancashire, supplies some 75% of the 8,000 Indian restaurants in Britain and its products, which include curry paste, pappadums, chapattis and cooking sauces, are sold through the major supermarket chains. It exports to around 40 countries.