FDBusiness.com

Dutch food group VION has agreed to sell its Ingredients division to Darling International of the US for approximately Eur1.6 billion in cash. The acquisition is highly complementary both geographically and with regard to business activities. Darling International is strong in the US, whilst the Ingredients division has leading positions primarily in Europe and around the world.

Darling International is North America’s largest and only publicly traded provider of rendering and bakery residuals recycling solutions to the food industry. The company recycles beef, poultry and pork by-product streams into useable ingredients such as tallow, feed-grade fats, meat and bone meal, poultry meal and hides. The company also recovers and converts used cooking oil and commercial bakery residuals into valuable feed and fuel ingredients.

VION Ingredients operates in Europe and worldwide with 58 companies developing, processing and selling added value products from slaughterhouse by-products. These products such as gelatine, proteins and fats are successfully sold to a variety of B2B markets such as the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food, feed, energy and technology industries. VION Ingredients is primarily known through its brands Ecoson, Rendac, Sonac, Rousselot and CTH. With its head office in Son, in the South of the Netherlands, VION Ingredients employs about 5,700 staff.

The agreed divestment of the Ingredients business follows the announcement made in April 2013 by VION’s board that it would make both main activities, Food and Ingredients, independent. The principal reason for this was that Food and Ingredients each serve their own markets and clients, face their own challenges, follow their own company strategies and only have limited overlap and synergy together. Over the course of this year VION has taken the steps necessary to arrive at full operational, organisational and legal independence for both Food and Ingredients.

VION also recently sold off its UK meat and poultry operations.