Neovia has acquired the Pilardière Group, which is the third largest producer of mineral feeds and nutritional specialties on the French market.
Neovia is investing in France, where the company wants to strengthen the positions of its premix and firm-services business line while supplementing its international offering of high value-added products and services.
The Remond Co. was incorporated in 1947 but has specialized in the production of customized minerals since 1974. The Pilardière Group is based in Vendée where it employs 44 people and produces more than 27,000 tons of mineral feed, premixes and tailor-made nutritional specialties, primarily for ruminants.
Despite the decrease in the production of compound feed in France since 2001, the highly competitive French minerals and premixes market remains relatively stable (approximately 300,000 tons/year). The company is the third largest manufacturer in France and enjoys long-term relationships and strong positions with manufacturer customers and private distributors. This relationship is based on in-depth knowledge of customer needs, a recognized expertise in marketing customized solutions and very good industrial quality and reactivity.
This acquisition will allow Neovia, through its Wisium France business, to strengthen its leadership on the French premix and firm-services market. It will also supplement the company’s expertise in manufacturing high value-added products and services. Effectively, in addition to its main business of manufacturing customized minerals, the Pilardière group also has strong expertise in manufacturing salt licks for ruminants. This manufacturing process will supplement Neovia’s industrial expertise and its offering of licking buckets and other specialty ingredients. Pilardière has also developed, in partnership with insemination cooperatives, an innovative approach that combines mineral nutrition, nutrigenomics and epigenetic. These are areas of research that complement Neovia’s priority fields of innovation.
Eric Quentin, managing director of Pilardière added: “I am delighted about this merger between the Pilardière group and Neovia. Belonging to an international group like Neovia will open new growth opportunities for our company and employees”.
Growth opportunities in France and abroad
Pilardière will be part of the Wisium France division which includes the premix and firm-services business line in France. It will benefit from the group’s international industrial knowledge as well as its leading expertise in R&D and formulation. Beyond that, Neovia’s strong international presence opens up major growth opportunities for the group, primarily through the international premix and firm-services brand, Wisium. Launched in 2016, Wisium offers innovative premix and firm-services solutions in more than 50 countries.
Hubert de Roquefeuil, CEO of Neovia said: “Neovia is continuing to invest in France for services and premium business lines. Pilardière’s acquisition is a concrete illustration of this strategy and completes several other targeted acquisitions on the French market. This acquisition is expected to bring synergies, both from an industrial point of view, through the acquisition of specific expertise, and from a business point of view, through the possibility of selling new products and services in France and abroad.”
