Pie firm Holland’s is set for new ownership, subject to a £342m takeover of owner Northern Foods.

Business tycoon Ranjit Boparan, who owns Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip shops, is on the verge of completing the takeover after his bid for the Leeds-based firm was accepted by 77 per cent of shareholders.

Approval from the competition authorities is the only hurdle that stands between Mr Boparan and owning the company outright, said a spokesman for the tycoon, who is known as the Chicken King of Birmingham.

Holland’s Pies, based on Blackburn Road, has been based in Baxenden since 1907 and currently employs more than 300 staff.

In the Recommended Cash Offer document submitted by Mr Boparan in January, it stated the Boparan Holdings Acquisitions Board attaches ‘great importance’ to the expertise of the existing management and staff of Northern Foods.

It added: "The BH Acquisitions Board has confirmed that, following the offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects, the existing employment rights of all employees of Northern Foods will be fully safeguarded and any employee consultation requirements will be complied with."

Boparan Holdings says it will also conduct a detailed business and operational review of the Northern Foods Group following completion of the purchase.

Holland’s Pies has declined to comment further.

Mr Bopanan, who also owns supermarket chicken supplier 2 Sisters, plans to de-list Northern from the stock market, which also makes Goodfella’s pizzas and a range of other supermarket products.

When the Northern board was presented with Mr Boparan’s bid in January, it scuppered an agreed merger between Northern and Dublin-based Greencore, the UK’s biggest sandwich manufacturer.