French poultry group Duc has joined forces with dairy group Bongrain to develop a range of luxury products.
The project will see the launch of a range of breaded poultry products with dairy and cheese components.
The partnership will look to revive a Bongrain poultry plant in Gouaix, to the east of Paris. Ownership of the site will be transferred to Duc on 1 July.
To fund the acquisition, Duc plans to raise just over EUR1m (US$1.5m) by issuing 60,000 shares worth EUR18 each.
Duc said it expects the plant to be profitable from the outset, adding up to EUR3.5m to second half sales. The company has targeted sales of EUR9m by 2009.
Last year, Duc posted turnover of EUR164m, of which EUR145m was generated from domestic sales of quality-assured products.
With annual sales of EUR3.3bn, Bongrain makes a range of long-life creams and foodservice ingredients, in addition to its cheese brands.
