PinguinLutosa and CECAB Group begin negotiations to combine their european deepfrozen vegetable activities

PinguinLutosa and the CECAB Group have started exclusive negotiations in order to integrate the activities of D’Aucy Frozen Foods (deep-frozen vegetable branch of the CECAB Group) into PinguinLutosa, number two in Europe in the deep-frozen vegetable sector.

In return, the CECAB Group would take participation in the PinguinLutosa Group for a minimum of 10%. The terms of the transaction are not finalized yet, but will be communicated as soon as they will be known.

The ambition of the CECAB Group is to join a known specialist in this sector in order to obtain a position as european leader in the deep-frozen vegetable sector. Making this transaction would represent a very important step forward for PinguinLutosa and would allow the Group’s deep-frozen vegetable activities to grow by more than 50%.

The production sites and the markets of D’Aucy Frozen Foods are very complementary with those of the deep-frozen vegetable segment of PinguinLutosa. The existence of these professional and geographical synergies would allow the two Groups to merge their current trump cards into one development objective.

The deep-frozen vegetable activities of the CECAB Group include 8 production sites for deep-frozen vegetables in Europe (2 sites in France, 4 in Poland and 2 in Hungary). In 2009 the Group employed 750 people and sales totalled to more than 145,000 tonnes.

The Belgian group PinguinLutosa commercializes 260,000 tonnes of deep-frozen vegetables and 360,000 tonnes of frozen potato products (fries and specialties). The Group sells its products in more than 95 countries across the world. In 2009 the Group realised sales of € 431 million and employed 1,711 people.

The finalization and the entire realization of this business combination is expected to be completed before end of 2010, after a more detailed examination and the realization of a certain number of conditions.