FDBusiness.com

Following a ten-year partnership with Nordic meat company HKScan Group, Danish Crown is now taking full control of Sokolow, the leading Polish producer of processed meat products. Danish Crown is paying Eur180 million (DKr1.3 billion) for 50% of the shares.

“For the past ten years, we have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with HKScan and have realised fantastic growth in both revenue and earnings. It is our clear goal to continue this development, and sole ownership is the right step. In this way, Danish Crown will benefit even further from the synergies inherent in having Sokolow as a subsidiary of the Danish Crown group, says Kjeld Johannesen, group chief executive of Danish Crown.

Sokolow employs about 6,500 employees at seven factories. The company posted revenue of DKr5.5 billion in 2013. Over the past ten years, continuous investments have been made, and the past three years have seen the establishment of both a new cold cuts facility and a new cattle slaughterhouse.

The acquisition of the remaining shares in Sokolow is in line with Danish Crown’s strategy of investing in processing activities. Danish Crown is Europe’s leading business within processed meat products via its DC Foods division. This position will be further strengthened through the full ownership of Sokolow.

Sokolow has posted impressive results for a number of years, and in Poland the company is known as the Coca-Cola of the meat industry. The company’s main strength is within the production of sausages, cold cuts and other processed meat products, but it is also the largest cattle slaughterhouse business in Poland, and the third-largest pig slaughterhouse business.

The takeover is subject to approval by the competition authorities.