Alpro sold to Dean Foods
Vandemoortele sold her Alpro Division to the Dean Foods for a transaction price of about €325 million. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2009. Vandemoortele sold its soya division because they want to focus more on their Frozen Bakery and Margarine & Fats activities, which are mainly oriented towards professional and industrial clients whereas Alpro was producing consumer goods. Also Unilever, Raisio and Danone were interested in buying the Alpro divission. Vandemoortele launched the sale a while ago because they needed capital to finance their recent acquisition of the French frozen bakery specialist Panavi.Dean Foods will obtain through this acquisition a strong European platform and will establish itself as a global leader with over $1 billion in annual retail sales in soy beverages and related products. Dean Foods is one of the leading food and beverage companies in the United States and produces and sells a variety of nationally branded soy, dairy and dairy-related products, such as the very popular Silk soymilk and Horizon Organic milk.[add] Bernard Deryckere of Alpro explained "I am 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 leading brand in soy based beverage and food products, with a net sales of approximately �260 million in 2008. Alpro with its staff of about 750 people has manufacturing sites in Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands.