ForFarmers buys De Hoop Mengvoeders to bolster poultry position
It is buying up De Hoop’s shares in the compound feed business, its related transport activities, and the mill with adjacent real estate.
Financial details about the deal have not been disclosed at this time.
Completion of the transaction, which awaits approval from the Dutch and German competition authorities, is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2021.
De Hoop is a family business, founded in 1906. At present, the company is managed by the fourth generation Buunk family. In 2006, it decided to focus only on the poultry sector. The company has 52 employees with a mill in Gelderland.
With its operations reaching beyond the Dutch borders, De Hoop recorded sales of 322,000 tons of poultry feed in 2019, primarily to broiler farmers, generating €110m in revenue. Around 80% of the produced volume is sold in the Netherlands, with the remaining 20% being sold from the Netherlands in Belgium and West-Germany.
Gert-Jan Buunk, managing director and owner of De Hoop, said the decision to become part of ForFarmers is future oriented and was primarily taken with the interest of employees and customers at heart.
He is set to manage the combined business, named ForFarmers-De Hoop, in conjunction with Michiel Schreurs, director poultry, ForFarmers Netherlands.
Acquisitions are a fundamental part of ForFarmers' strategy; in July 2018, it also looked to strengthen its poultry feed offer by buying up Maatman, a Dutch company active in the poultry sector but also in the ruminant sector in the Netherlands and Germany.
Prior to that, in February 2018, it acquired a 60% stake in Polish poultry feed company, Tasomix. As well as boosting its poultry portfolio, the move increased ForFarmers' foothold regionally, giving it a fifth country of operation.
