MECHELEN, Belgium, February 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cargill has announced its intention to acquire Royal Nedalco's alcohol operations from its parent company, Royal Cosun.
Cargill and Nedalco - who operate plants adjacent to each other in both the Netherlands and the UK - have been business partners for many years. Cargill's wheat processing plants supply Royal Nedalco with wheat raw materials for its alcohol production process. This acquisition is therefore a natural extension of Cargill's long-standing business operations.
This deal involves Nedalco head office in Bergen op Zoom (The Netherlands), the Royal Nedalco plants in Manchester (UK), Sas van Gent (The Netherlands) and Heilbronn (Germany). The three Royal Nedalco production plants produce about 1.4 million hectolitres of high quality potable and industrial alcohol per annum and employ approximately 100 people. Royal Nedalco's technology development activities are not part of this deal.
"The acquisition of Royal Nedalco is an excellent strategic fit for Cargill, complementing our existing asset footprint, and a great opportunity to create value for our customers, due to our involvement at each stage of the wheat supply chain," says Peter van Deursen, head of Cargill's starches and sweeteners business in Europe. "Royal Nedalco is recognised as one of the market leaders in premium potable and industrial alcohol in Europe and we already supply them with raw materials for a substantial part of their alcohol production process."
Van Deursen continues: "These raw materials are part of our existing wheat processing activities, so this represents an excellent opportunity for us to enter a high value market complementary to those in which we are already present on the food, non-food and feed side. By converting these raw materials into high quality alcohol ourselves, we will add considerable value to our overall starch operations. Furthermore, this acquisition will strengthen our employee base with the addition of very qualified and motivated people who bring valuable expertise in the production and marketing of potable and industrial alcohol."
Royal Nedalco's high-quality alcohol is used in multiple industrial applications in the spirit, food, pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics industries. For the spirit industry, the company's alcohol is used as a superior ingredient. In the non spirit segment, the alcohol has a wide arrange of applications, from flavours and perfumes to mouthwash, disinfectants and printing ink.
Royal Nedalco's Managing Director, Ger Bemer, states the benefits to Cargill of acquiring such a highly skilled company and workforce: "The strength and expertise of the Royal Nedalco employees have resulted in genuine client relationships characterized by mutual respect. This unique position on the market, combined with Nedalco's world class factories has convinced Cargill to enter the alcohol production market. This step will provide our employees and customers with solid long-term growth opportunities under the wings of a privately held company focused on long-term value creation."
Robert P. Smith, President and CEO of Royal Cosun, says: "We intend to divest our alcohol operations as they no longer form part of our core strategic focus. But we are convinced that the sale of the Royal Nedalco facilities to Cargill will provide the business and the employees with interesting long-term growth."
Completion of the acquisition is dependent upon regulatory approval, which is expected in the second quarter of 2011
Notes for editors:
About Cargill
Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 131,000 people in 66 countries.
Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to sharing its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business.
For more information, visit http://www.cargill.com - http://www.cargill.be - http://www.cargill.nl - http://www.cargill.co.uk
About Cargill's European starches and sweeteners business
Cargill's European starches and sweeteners business is headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium and employs around 2,800 people in 13 locations across Europe. The business sells a full range of products to customers in the food, paper, cardboard, corrugating, pharmaceutical and animal feed sectors.
About Cosun
Royal Cosun is an international agri-industrial group firmly rooted in the primary sector. Its businesses produce ingredients and products that make their way to the food industry, foodservice sector and retail channels. In addition, the group is increasingly focusing on non-food applications.
Cosun's ambition is to get the most out of its raw materials: this is good for the environment, profitability and meets the social demand for responsible products and production methods.
Royal Cosun was established more than a 100 years ago by Dutch sugar beet growers who united themselves in a cooperative. Today, the cooperative has some 10,000 member/shareholders and has grown into a business with nearly 4,500 employees and a group turnover of about EUR 1.8 billion.
For more information, visit http://www.cosun.com
About Royal Nedalco
Royal Nedalco is a member of the Cosun group. One of the oldest manufacturing companies in the Netherlands, it forms an essential link in the national agro industry. Nedalco's high quality alcohol is used in a variety of industries, including the drinks industry, the medical sector, the cosmetics industry and the chemical industry. As a leading European producer of natural ethanol (ethyl alcohol), Nedalco has activities in approximately 20 countries worldwide and operates four production sites and one dedicated sales office across Europe.
Thanks to the company's extensive and leading Research and Development activities in yeast technology, Nedalco has been placed at the forefront of the global second-generation fuel ethanol business.
For more information, visit http://www.nedalco.nl/
http://www.cargill.com/news-center/news-releases/index.jsp
CONTACT:
Cargill
Gwendoline Ornigg: +32(0)15-458-319
Gwendoline_Ornigg@cargill.com
Corinne Holtshausen: + 44(0)1932-861174
Corinne_Holtshausen@cargill.com
Nedalco
Ger Bemer: +31(0)164-21-34-24
g.bemer@nedalco.nl
Cosun
Willy van Oorschot: +31(0)76-53-03-243
willy.van.oorschot@cosun.com
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