Nutreco buys South African premix player

03-Oct-2019 - Last updated on 03-Oct-2019 at 10:45 GMT

Dutch group, Nutreco, has acquired the South African premix company, Animal Nutrition and Health (ANH), from Kaonne Investments, for an undisclosed price.

“The acquisition was signed in July 2019, and we subsequently got all the regulatory approvals, allowing us to close the deal yesterday [October 2),” said Rob Kiers, managing director Nutreco, Africa.

ANH will be fully integrated into Trouw Nutrition South Africa.

Kiers said the Dutch company has already collaborated with ANH for the past two years.

“ANH is a premix company and technical services provider, supplying the South African market. It formulates, it brands, it provides services and it sells, but it does not have production capacity, instead relying on toll milling. We were one of its premix product suppliers.”

Nutreco is, as such, buying the ANH expertise.

“It is strong in certain segments, where we are not so strong, such as the dairy market in South Africa. So, we get access to that specific market segment.

“Next to the premix activity, ANH has a complete feed business, called Barn Lab. And, as part of this deal, we signed a supply contract with that entity, enabling us to continue to be the main premix supplier for its feed mill," he told this publication.

The acquisition further underpins the Dutch group’s activities in South Africa, the biggest market on the African continent. July 2016 saw Nutreco acquire another premix company in that market - Advit, located in Johannesburg, operating countrywide as well as exporting to neighboring countries.

Currently, Trouw Nutrition markets a wide range of products in South Africa including young animal feeds, under the Sprayfo brand, on farm additives, with its Farm-O-San range and also its Selko feed additives and premixes manufactured locally.

The market has its challenges, though, due to drought and volatile harvests, acknowledged Kiers.

“However, overall, the South African market has not been shrinking. It has been stable, and in some segments, there has been growth. Importantly, for us, when there are difficulties with drought, as a provider of nutritional solutions, we have a role to play by supplying formulations that can include alternatives to certain raw materials or by enhancing the nutritional components within those raw materials. If the market is challenged, then knowledge becomes even more important, and we position ourselves as a knowledge-based company,” he added.

Nutreco entered Africa in 2001 by acquiring a share of the Egyptian company Hendrix Misr, which came under full ownership in 2013 and was renamed Skretting Egypt. Nutreco increased its presence in 2014 through a fish feed joint venture in Nigeria, and, in 2016, it also started a fish feed joint venture in Zambia.