Bel and Lactalis enter exclusive talks to sell Leerdammer® and
related rights
Suresnes & Laval, 19 March 2021 –
8:45am
Bel and Lactalis enter exclusive
talks to sell Leerdammer® and related rights
- Bel and Lactalis begin exclusive negotiations having
signed an Unilateral Promise to Purchase a business, on March 18,
2021, including Royal Bel Leerdammer NL, Bel Italia, Bel
Deutschland, Leerdammer and all related rights, and Bel Shostka
Ukraine, in return for Lactalis’s 1,591,472 Bel shareholding
(23.16% Bel equity stake).
- Dairy products world no. 1 Lactalis acquires iconic
European cheese brand Leerdammer, which has best-in-class strengths
including a great reputation, a broad product range and world-class
production facilities. Leerdammer fits perfectly into Lactalis’s
strategic priorities founded on top class product development and
local food.
- Bel, a market leading cheese brand owner and major
player in healthy snacking, ramps up rollout of its strategic
roadmap with a view to boosting growth of its three complementary
market segments - dairy, fruits and plant-based. Via this deal, Bel
reaffirms its independent family business model that has
underpinned its corporate culture and success ever since it was
founded nearly 150 years ago.
Bel Group and Lactalis Group today announced
they have begun exclusive negotiations having signed a unilateral
promise to purchase a business, including Royal Bel Leerdammer NL,
Bel Italia, Bel Deutschland, the Leerdammer brand and all related
rights plus Bel Shostka Ukraine, from Lactalis. Sicopa, a
wholly-owned Bel subsidiary, will transfer said assets to Lactalis
in return for 1,591,472 Bel shares (23.16% equity stake) held by
Lactalis. Following the transaction, Lactalis will hold a 0.90%
stake in Bel. As of December 31, 2021, Leerdammer and Bel Shostka
Ukraine revenues were approximately €500 million, of which €350
million Leerdammer revenues, while operating earnings were
approximately €25 million.
Bel Group Chairman and CEO Antoine Fievet said:
« In line with our strategic priorities, we continue to grow
our business and take on three further market segments, namely
dairy, fruit and plant-based, and so reinforce our healthy
snacking major player position. With this asset sale deal we
reaffirm our independent family business model that gives us
freedom to take a long-term view. For Leerdammer, this deal means a
unique chance to have the backing of Lactalis, dairy products world
no. 1, which will have the wherewithal to support it for its
upcoming challenges. We’re proud to have supported it with
tremendous success over close on 20 years. I’d like today to thank
all Leerdammer and Bel Shostka Ukraine people for their outstanding
work and commitment. »
Lactalis Group Chairman Emmanuel Besnier said:
“We welcome Leerdammer and we’re excited by the prospect of
building on the growth of this iconic brand that people adore. This
deal gives us an opening into the Dutch cheese market and
production in Holland via three manufacturing plants. The transfer
to us of Bel’s Italian, German and Ukrainian sales subsidiaries
will boost our facilities in these countries benefiting both
Leerdammer and other Bel product sales on these markets. »
A transformative acquisition for
Lactalis in line with its strategic priorities
Since Bel bought it in 2002, Leerdammer sales
and earnings have nearly doubled. Now, one of Europe’s best-known
cheese brands underpinned by strong fundamentals, a top-class
image, a broad product range and state-of-the-art production
facilities, will join world dairy product no. 1 Lactalis.
In keeping with its strategic priorities,
Lactalis strives to actively support Leerdammer’s growth by giving
it the Group’s global scale and facilities. Lactalis plans to ramp
up its innovations catalogue, grow its branding and move into new
high-growth world regions.
This deal will bolster the Group’s European
roots, specifically in Italy and Germany, and offers good prospects
for development in markets where Lactalis already has a significant
presence. This includes Ukraine, where Lactalis has had a business
for 25 years.
Bel Group, a major healthy snacking
player, ramping up its strategic rollout
Selling a business including Leerdammer is
perfectly in line with Bel Group strategy since 2015. Bel took big
steps forward in said strategy with its 2016 MOM and 2020 All In
Foods acquisitions, which aimed to take its business beyond cheese
products to bolster its positioning as a major healthy snacking
player. These deals came at just the right time when the agrifood
industry was ripe for radical change due to new shopping demand
arising from the food transition underway.
Against this backdrop, this latest deal gives
Bel further opportunities to advance its product offering strategy
on its three further key market segments, while also stepping up
moves into high-growth future markets like Asia/Pacific and North
America.
What is more, Bel seeks to achieve a good
balance over the medium term between dairy and fruit &
vegetable by tapping into its core brands like The Laughing Cow®,
Kiri®, Mini Babybel®, Boursin® and GoGo squeeZ®. Bel will continue
to develop dairy products, fruit produce, alternative and mixed
plant-based.
Furthermore, the transaction’s terms and
conditions protect Bel’s market shares in Germany, Italy and
Ukraine by adjusting local retail models based on exclusive sales
alliances with Lactalis to distribute its other brands.
Post-transaction, Lactalis selling its Bel
shareholding will give Bel family shareholders further funds to
invest in the Group’s future growth and bolster market share,
thereby testifying to the independent family business model that
has underpinned Bel’s success over close to 150 years.
Provisional transaction timetable and
upcoming steps
The Bel Group and Lactalis Group boards of
directors have unanimously approved the unilateral promise to
purchase.
The Bel Group board of directors at its 18 March
2021 meeting nominated the firm Finexsi as independent experts for
the purposes of certifying whether the transaction’s, the OPRA’s
and the OPR-RO’s financial terms and conditions are fair for Bel
shareholders.
Upcoming steps in the transaction will be staff
representative consultation in the relevant entities and
negotiation of the terms of the purchase contract.
Said contract may be signed following staff
consultation procedures. Effective transaction completion will be
conditional on obtaining required approval from the anti-trust
authorities that is expected by the end of summer 2021.Bel Group
and Lactalis Group will keep markets informed of any material
change to the transaction.
Financial and legal
advisors
BNP Paribas and Perella Weinberg Partners have
acted as Bel Group’s financial advisors and Linklaters LLP has
acted as legal advisors.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP et Bredin
Prat has acted as Lactalis Group’s legal advisors.
About Bel
The Bel Group is a world leader in branded
cheese and a major player in the healthy snack market. Its
portfolio of differentiated and internationally recognized brands
include such products as The Laughing Cow®, Kiri®, Mini Babybel®,
Leerdammer®, Boursin®, Pom’Potes®, and GoGo squeeZ®, as well as
some 20 local brands. Together, these brands helped the Group
generate sales of €3.46 billion in 2020. Some 12,510 employees in
some 40 subsidiaries around the world contribute to the deployment
of the Group's mission to champion healthier and responsible food
all. Bel products are prepared at 33 production sites and
distributed in nearly 120 countries.
About Lactalis Group
Lactalis Group is the world’s no. 1 dairy
products supplier and a French family business founded in 1933 in
Laval. Backed by operations in 51 countries and 266 worldwide dairy
and cheese production plants, its 85,000 staff convert milk into
cheese, consumer milk, yoghurt, butter, cream, dairy ingredients
and nutrition. Serving the daily lives of millions of households,
Lactalis is famed for iconic brands such as Président, Galbani and
Parmalat and strives to ensure it sustainably upholds milk
expertise as world no. 1 AOP provider.
------------------Bel press
contactsHavas Paris - Sarah
Duparcsarah.duparc@havas.com - +33(0)1.58.47.82.06 /
+33(0)6.46.72.39.99Havas Paris - Michaël
Sadounmichael.sadoun@havas.com - +33(0)1.57.77.74.65 /
+33(0)6.82.34.76.26
Lactalis Group press
contactsValérie Le Chevillier, Group Communications
Director – valerie.lechevillier@lactalis.fr – 07 63 19 60 82
Christophe Piednoël, DG Communication and External Relations –
christophe.piednoel@lactalis.fr - 02 43 59 52 66 / 06 15 19 17
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