Mexican conglomerate Grupo Kuo has struck a deal to take full control of Nutricarsa, the Mexican food processing joint venture it operates with Cargill.

The venture is a pork meat processing plant Kuo has through its affiliate Keken. Kuo has acquired the 34% of the plant Cargill owned to serve its pork meat business. The facility is located at Uman in southern Mexico. It has an annual production capacity of 480,000 metric tons

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“This transaction will allow Kuo to guarantee and optimise the food supply for its pork meat business, while increasing the value generation by integrating completely this facility to their asset base, which includes farms, a slaughterhouse, and a chain of retail stores [Maxicarne],” Kuo CEO Alejandro de la Barreda Gómez said. “The closing of this transaction will allow us to control a key part of our production network, optimise the supply of food for our pork business and streamline our decision-making processes that contribute to the generation of value.”

A spokesperson for Cargill confirmed that the plant’s production capacity was used to supply “internal demand”. 

The Cargill spokesperson added it sold the stake under the terms of a deal the company signed in 2011. “At the beginning of 2016, Keken expressed their decision to exercise their purchase rights. Keken has exercised their option to buy all of the shares of Nutricarsa, the JV, effective May 31, 2016 and have full ownership of all elements of the joint venture.”

Kuo’s interests include Mexican food business Herdez Del Fuerte, which markets products including condiments, tuna and mushrooms. Herdez Del Fuerte is a joint venture between Kuo and Mexican food business Grupo Herdez.

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The Herdez Del Fuerte exports to the US market. It is also a partner in the Megamex Foods salsa-to-tortilla venture with Hormel Foods.

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