AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA has acquired Cargill’s animal nutrition business in Switzerland.
Cargill is a leader in animal nutrition in Europe and remains committed to that market, offering a range of compound feed, premixes, feed additives, supply chain and risk management solutions as well as software tools. Cargill generated revenues of roughly EUR130 million (US$151 million) in fiscal 2017. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction was signed and closed on November 6, 2017.
Cargill is a leading player in the Swiss market for animal feed with production sites in Lucens, Gossau, and Kaiseraugst. The company produces premix as well as complete feed for major species such as poultry, swine, and cattle. The Swiss product offering includes specialty feed for pets, horses, zoo animals and medicated feed. Cargill employs about 250 people who will be transitioned under existing contracts, and operates three well-equipped, state-of-the-art animal feed production sites across Switzerland, among them a new facility constructed in 2016 at its location in Lucens.
In the upcoming months, AURELIUS operational experts will support management in executing a carve-out from Cargill ensuring minimal distraction to the company’s Swiss-based animal nutrition business, thus helping management and employees to fully focus on its customers.
“We have been able to again successfully establish AURELIUS as the preferred partner in a complex carve-out of a non-core business,” said Dr. Dirk Markus, chairman of the executive board of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities. “2017 continues to be a very busy year for us. We anticipate further transactions until year-end.”
“We are confident in AURELIUS’s ability to take over ownership and continue delivering in the best long-term interest of both our customers and employees,” said Phil Graham, group director, Cargill. “Cargill remains committed to the European, and more specifically the Swiss market, where we have been active since 1956.”
AURELIUS Equity Opportunities has many years of investment and management experience in various industries and sectors. It employs its management capacities and the necessary financial resources to invest in product innovation, sales and research in order to develop the potential of its subsidiaries.
