International producer and marketer of food Cargill will acquire animal nutrition business Provimi Group, for EUR 1.5 billion, Cargill has recently announced. Both companies are present on the Romanian market and the deal will most likely have a local impact. Provimi has been doing business in Romania since 1998 through Vipromin 2000, with a second company, Vipromax, set up in 2003. The two companies have merged afterward under the name of Provimi Romania. It has three production units in Romania and a production capacity of up to 350,000 tonnes of fodder a year.

The deal comes as an addition to Cargills fodder factory in Sibiu, Romania, acquired in 2007. Cargill Romania has been more active in the cereal trading and in edible oil production (with the brand Untdelemn de la Bunica).

"This acquisition would mark a significant step in Cargill's animal nutrition growth strategy," said Paul Conway, Cargill's vice chairman. Provimi’s worldwide animal nutrition business has operations in 26 countries and employs more than 7,000 people across Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. It had annual sales of EUR 1.6 billion in 2010.

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 130,000 people in 63 countries.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sxc.hu)