By the time Bill Showalter took over the top role at Young’s Seafood, one of the world’s most important seafood companies, it had been through seismic shifts that would have crippled most groups.

Showalter was the seventh CEO the Young’s and Findus UK staff had worked under in less than 10 years, and it was already widely known that Young’s primary owners – Lion Capital, Bain and HPS – were eagerly looking to offload the company.