Poultry group LDC looking at acquisitions outside of France
08/12/2021 10:57
By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - France's largest poultry group LDC
LOUP.PA is looking at European acquisitions in or around
markets where it is already present as part of its growth
strategy, its head of international operations told Reuters.
Its significant market share in France, where it holds 40%
of the poultry market and 50% of the chilled delicatessen
market, has left the group little room for manoeuvre in terms of
external growth in its home country, Philippe Gelin said.
The group, which reported sales of 4.4 billion euros ($4.95
billion) in 2020/21 of which 830 million euros was generated
outside of France, started its international expansion 20 years
ago with the takeover of a company in Poland, the European
Union's largest poultry producer.
It then took majority stakes in a poultry business in
Hungary, an import-export firm in Belgium and, earlier this
year, in a poultry company Capestone in Wales, which controls 7%
of the UK's free range and organic markets.
LDC favours acquiring family businesses when entering new
markets but remains open to other possibilities, said Gelin, who
is due to take over as chief executive next year but will remain
in charge of the international division.
"Today the LDC group, depending on opportunities, has the
capacity to make bigger acquisitions. We are not hindered by
size," he said.
Majority stakes could target companies with sales of 200
million euros ($225 million) sales per year, Gelin said.
"First we want to strengthen our business through
acquisitions in Poland, in Hungary and the UK, in places where
we already are," he said.
The group is also looking at other countries in Europe,
including those bordering Hungary, he said.
The group is in contact with several potential partners,
Gelin said, declining to provide further detail.
($1 = 0.8894 euros)
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; editing by Jason Neely)
((Sybille.deLaHamaide@thomsonreuters.com; +336 8774 4148;))