It was a long, long time coming, but it appears the pan-European frozen packaged foods giant everyone has been waiting for has arrived.

After years of swirling rumors, failed IPO bids, factory closures, layoffs, poor margins, lost contracts, horse lasagna and yes, some success and innovation as well, Europe's two leading frozen foods producers are finally -- finally! -- under the same umbrella.

Nomad Foods on Thursday confirmed a £500 million (€702.2 million/$781.1 million) binding offer for Findus Group's European frozen foods division, creating a company with likely more than €2 billion ($2.2