Dean Foods: acquires Vandemoortele’s Alpro Division

Gent / BE. (vnv) Vandemoortele N.V., Belgium´s largest privately-held food company, and Dean Foods Company announced an agreement for Dean Foods Company to acquire Vandemoortele´s Alpro Division. The transaction´s price is approximately 325 million EUR. It is expected to be completed in the third quarter.

Jean Vandemoortele, President of the Group Executive Committee of Vandemoortele: «Earlier this year, we decided to change our strategy by focusing on our Frozen Bakery and Margarine + Fats activities, which represent together 80 percent of the Group´s turnover and are essentially oriented towards professional and industrial customers. Selling Alpro to Dean Foods offers the best opportunities for future growth, both for our Frozen Bakery and Margarine + Fats activities, which will have the necessary resources to pursue their expansion in Europe, and for Alpro and its staff, which provides a strong European platform for Dean Foods».

«We think this is a great deal and establishes Dean Foods as a clear global leader with over one billion USD in annual retail sales in the attractive soy beverages and related products category», said Gregg Engles, Dean Foods Chairman and CEO. «This is one of the most strategic assets we could have acquired. We see significant opportunities to leverage the collective strengths of both businesses across a global soy platform to accelerate growth».

Bernard Deryckere, CEO of Alpro: «I´m very optimistic about the future of Alpro. Our market strategy and strong values combined with our great staff have led to extraordinary results in the past. I am delighted that Dean Foods, a recognized leader in the branded soy products business, will be our parent company. With a shared passion for growing brands, it is my deepest belief that together we will now share even greater success».

Alpro is the European leader in branded soybased beverage and food products and had net sales of approximately 260 million EUR in 2008. Alpro has five manufacturing sites in Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, and employs approximately 750 people. Alpro CEO Bernard Deryckere will report to Joe Scalzo, CEO and President of Dean Foods WhiteWave-Morningstar division. Alpro will be run as a separate European business. The parties have committed to an agreement to acquire Alpro, a division of Vandemoortele, subject to customary works council procedures. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Info: The financial and macro-economic environment has fundamentally changed during the last months. In this context Group Vandemoortele has decided in January to focus on the activities Bakery (frozen bakery products) and Lipids (margarines and fats), representing together 80 percent of the Group´s turnover and essentially oriented towards professional and industrial customers. Group Vandemoortele is traditionally strong in those segments and wants to further expand in Europe in these activities. Within the framework of this change of strategy the group prepares the selling process of its soy business Alpro, which is oriented towards the end consumer.