Greenyard

Greenyard
legal form	NV
ISIN	BE0003765790
Seat	Sint-Katelijne-Waver , Belgium
management	Hein Deprez ( CEO )
Number of employees	9,000
sales	4.25 billion euros
Branch	food
Website	greenyard.group
As of March 31, 2015

Greenyard , formerly Greenyard Foods , is a Belgian group of companies that processes fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as canned and frozen ready meals and markets these products. The head office of the internationally active group listed on the Euronext stock exchange is in Sint-Katelijne-Waver .

history

Beginnings, entry into the frozen food business

The roots of Greenyard Foods go back to the small agricultural products dealer Weduwe M. Dejonghe & Zonen (widow M. Dejonghe & Sons) in the Flemish part of Belgium, which mainly marketed carrots. In 1965 the owners, the three Dejonghe brothers, got into the frozen vegetable business and built a factory in Westrozebeke that processed 500 tons of them annually.

Change of name to Pinguin, second generation takes over, expansion abroad

In 1968 the company was renamed Pinguin , and in 1986 a further production site was opened in Langemark . In 1992 the owners handed the company over to their children. The first step abroad followed in 1995 with the establishment of Légum'land Surgelés , a joint venture with French farmers and the English company Fisher Frozen Foods from King's Lynn .

IPO, further expansion, PinguinLutosa, Greenyard Foods

In 1999 the company went public. In 2002 Pinguin took over its joint venture partner Fisher Frozen Foods , it was renamed Pinguin Foods UK , and Légum'land Surgelés became Pinguin Aquitaine .

The next expansion step took place in 2007 with the takeover of the British companies Padley Vegetables and Salvesen Foods as well as the Belgian Lutosa . The group now operating as PinguinLutosa now had eight production sites in three countries and sales offices worldwide. In 2011 D'Aucy Frozen Foods (France, Hungary, Poland) and Scana Noliko (Belgium) were added. In 2013, the Lutosa potato division was sold to the Canadian company McCain Foods , after which the rest of the group was given a new name: Greenyard Foods .

In 2014 Herwig Dejonghe took over the subsidiary Pinguin Aquitaine and left the Greenyard Foods company .

Merger with Univeg and Peatinvest

On June 19, 2015, Greenyard Foods reached an agreement with the Univeg Group and the Peatinvest Group on a reverse merger (takeover of a larger company by a smaller company).

• At the time, Greenyard Foods had 2,200 employees, 13 production sites in five countries (Belgium, France, Great Britain, Poland and Hungary) as well as subsidiaries and sales offices in five continents. The Pinguin division is Europe's No. 2 in the frozen vegetables and fruit sector, the Noliko division is Europe's No. 5 in the canned vegetables and fruits sector (as of 2015).
• Peatinvest NV is a manufacturer of substrates for horticulture (brands: Peltracom for commercial crops, Agrofino for hobby gardeners) with 400 employees and nine production sites in four countries. Peltracom ranks third among the European substrate manufacturers (as of 2015).
• Univeg , by far the largest of the three groups, is (as of 2015) number 2 worldwide in the fresh fruit and vegetables sectors, and is also active in the convenience products , flowers and plants market sectors as well as in the transport and logistics business; At the time of the merger (excluding The Fruitfarm Group, which was separated at the end of 2014 ), Univeg employed 4,000 people in 27 countries.

The name-giving parent company of the merger is the already listed Greenyard Foods , the entire company was renamed Greenyard NV after the merger . The shareholders of Univeg and Peatinvest will receive shares in Greenyard Foods worth 25.5 million euros in the merger . Hein Deprez , the Chairman of Univeg and Peatinvest , is the largest shareholder in the new company with a 46% stake.

With an arithmetical total turnover of 3.9 billion euros and activities in 26 countries, the merger of the three groups created the world's largest production company in the fruit and vegetable market, which can offer the entire processing spectrum with fresh, canned and frozen goods.

Further development

At the beginning of 2016, an agreement was announced for the complete takeover of the Dutch company Lutèce BV , the largest European producer of canned mushrooms. In June 2017, Greenyard Foods agreed to take over Mykogen Polska , the leading manufacturer of mushroom growing media in Poland (at the time of takeover) with a market share of around 20%, including its subsidiary Fungis , for 93 million euros. Mykogen has its production facilities mainly in Poland (the largest mushroom-producing country in Europe), but also in Ukraine.

Listeria outbreak

Greenyard has struggled with listeria for years . This became known through a major recall in 2018. Several people have already died from it. In mid-July the recall was extended to other products.

supporting documents

1. ↑ Hein Deprez creates Marleen Vaesen opzij bij Greenyard . 29th January 2018.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} https://www.greenyard.group/about-us/key-figures.html
3. ↑ https://www.greenyard.group/about-us/key-figures.html
4. ↑ Euronext Celebrates the New Business Combination of Greenyard Foods, Univeg and Peatinvest , Euronext press release detailing the process of the combination
5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ UNIVEG, Peatinvest and Greenyard Foods finally agreed on a merger ( memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Fruchthandel Online, May 15, 2015. 
7. ↑ GaLaBau NRW: Marketing tips for everyday business .
8. ↑ Mushrooms - Lutèce Experience Passion and Quality .
9. ↑ Abris to sell Mykogen Polska SA, a leading European producer of mushroom substrate . June 16, 2017.
10. ↑ Greenyard acquires leading mushroom substrate group .
11. ↑ Greenyard takes over leading mushroom substrate group .
12. ↑ Greenyard recalls frozen vegetables from Penny, Clever and Echt Bio In: Nachrichten.at , July 6, 2018, accessed on July 7, 2018.
13. ↑ Listeria: Next vegetable mix affected In: Heute.at , July 15, 2018, accessed on July 16, 2018.