Brakes Group, the food supplier that had purportedly been considering a flotation, has been sold to US company Sysco in a deal worth $3.1bn (£2.2bn).

The company was majority owned by the private equity group Bain Capital, which took the company private for about £1.3bn in 2007.

Sysco, a leading US foodservice supplier, confirmed that the group’s chief executive, Ken McMeikan, who was formerly the boss of the Greggs bakery chain, will remain in charge at Brakes.

Brakes – which has operations in the UK, Ireland, France, Sweden, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg – will operate as a standalone company within Sysco. This deal, which includes the repayment of approximately $2.3bn of Brakes’ financial debt, is worth 12 times Brakes Group’s 2015 adjusted ebitda of approximately £184m.

Sysco’s chief executive, Bill Delaney, said: “We look forward to welcoming Brakes Group, its 15,000 employees, and Ken McMeikan and his highly respected leadership team to the Sysco family of companies. This transaction will unite Sysco with a leading foodservice distributor in Europe with demonstrated capability to sustainably grow its business over time.”