Pallas Foods, the Limerick-based food service company which is owned by US firm Sysco, has acquired Northern Ireland-based firm Crossgar for an undisclosed sum. The deal is subject to Competition Authority approval.

Crossgar Foodservice is one of the largest food distributors in Northern Ireland, supplying food products to the retail, catering and state agency sectors

Pallas Foods was acquired by Nasdaq-listed company Sysco in 2009 for an estimated €175 million. Pallas is still run by the Geary family and employs 550 people.

Both companies will continue to be run under separate brands following the acquisition by Sysco.

Crossgar Foodservice has four facilities across Northern Ireland.

Headquartered in Co Down, it employs 238 people and has an annual turnover of about £38 million. As well as supplying product into Northern Ireland and mainland Britain, it has won a number of contracts south of the Border in recent times, including with the Irish Defence Forces and the HSE.

Sysco is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is based in Texas. Pallas was its first acquisition outside the US.

It had sales of $37 billion in 2010.