LDC has struck a deal to acquire export business France Poultry from Saudi Arabia’s Almunajem Group.
The transaction, announced on Thursday (26 February), has its origins in the acquisition of the former French poultry business Doux in 2018.
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Under the terms of a deal approved by a court administrator in Rennes, LDC is buying 100% of France Poultry from Almunajem.
LDC, one of France’s largest poultry processors, plans to move its new asset’s focus away from markets in the Gulf.
The company is also acquiring 35.5% of the share capital of Yer Breizh, a hatchery and feed business that supplies France Poultry.
In 2018, a consortium led by LDC and involving Almunajem agreed a deal to take over the ailing chicken processor Doux.
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By GlobalDataAfter the transaction was finalised, France Poultry was formed to take over Doux’s export-oriented poultry slaughterhouse in Châteaulin in Brittany. The new business, which Almunajem owned outright, also took on the trademarks for Doux, Doux FitLife and Supreme in the GCC countries and Yemen.
In parallel, Yer Breizh was created to take over Doux’s upstream assets, including a poultry feed plant in Brittany, poultry farms and hatchery units. France Poultry held a 40.5% stake in Yer Breizh. LDC also had a 40.5% shareholding through its Amont LDC subsidiary.
Natalia Bernard, LDC’s CFO, told Just Food the latest transactions were agreed “to address France Poultry’s urgent need for reorganisation measures and to secure a sustainable pathway for the company’s future operations and industrial project”. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Bernard said the publicly listed LDC plans to reorient France Poultry to other markets from next year. “France Poultry’s activity is described as primarily involving frozen poultry products – notably whole frozen chickens – exported to the Middle East,” she said. “France Poultry’s historical activity on the GCC markets is not profitable under current economic conditions.”
LDC plans to build a new poultry slaughterhouse for France Poultry, which could be commissioned in early 2028. “The existing industrial facility is described as specialised in small chickens intended for freezing and export and as not being adapted to French domestic market demand,” Bernard explained.
“As for the existing slaughterhouse, the announced approach is not framed as a straightforward shutdown but rather as a progressive reorganisation, involving a transition phase, an adaptation of the activity at the existing site and the subsequent commissioning of the new dedicated facility.”
