Vandemoortele and Délifrance agreed to establish themselves as a new, joint player in the frozen bakery market, with the Belgian family-owned group acquiring the French baker. The acquisition will create an estimated EUR 2.4 billion global player. By joining forces, they will be able to offer a complete range of viennoiseries, Danish pastries, artisanal bread, donuts, Italian savories, and patisserie products under leading brands including Délifrance, Banquet d’Or, Doony’s, Lanterna, Acquaviva and Lizzi.
“We will be delighted to welcome Délifrance into the Vandemoortele family,” said Jean Vandemoortele Chairman of the Board of Vandemoortele, “This will be a historic partnership with a compelling strategy and culture fit.”
Délifrance is one of Europe’s leading frozen bakery manufacturers, with over 3 200 employees, a network of 14 production sites and annual turnover of approximately EUR 930 million for the year ending June 30, 2024. Délifrance’s main markets are in Europe and Asia where it serves retailers, foodservice operators, and artisan bakers.
Vandemoortele has 3,500 employees and 28 production sites. Its bakery products business line has an estimated turnover of EUR 1.4 billion and offers a wide range of frozen bakery products, which are sold in Europe and the USA.
Yvon Guerin, CEO of Vandemoortele, says: “We respect the heritage and expertise that Délifrance represents. This new combination will allow us to create powerful synergies in terms of accelerated growth, customer service, product range, innovation and branding. We will bring together great talent from both parties and create new opportunities for all our associates. With a robust investment plan, we are convinced we can accelerate future growth.”
Robert O’Boyle, CEO of Délifrance, also shares: “The transformation undertaken by Délifrance and its management teams over the past four years, together with the support of VIVESCIA and its governing counsels, has built Délifrance into a strong bakery partner with a deep heritage and know-how, ready to engage and accompany our customers in their future growth development. The exciting combination with Vandemoortele, we are announcing today, will allow us, together, to invest and build on our world-class teams, our shared values of product innovation and customer service excellence, to support and accelerate the growth of all our customer partnerships throughout Europe, Asia and North America. We look forward to developing this next chapter in the history of Délifrance and to a long and successful journey together in the years ahead.”
Christoph Büren, Chairman of VIVESCIA, commented about the move made by its subsidiary Délifrance: “Our VIVESCIA Group’s transformation is underway! This decision by VIVESCIA and SICOM’s Board of Directors is in line with the strategic discussions undertaken as part of the VIVESCIA 2030 project over the last 18 months. The ambition is to work with our teams to write a new chapter in our story of growth, innovation, and the creation of sustainable value for agriculture and our cooperative entrepreneurs, for our plant and grain processing businesses and their customers, and for the Francine brand and for its consumers.
As well as giving Délifrance all the resources it needs for its development and the opportunity to shape the future of the frozen bakery market, this ambitious project could create for VIVESCIA the conditions for a valuable, long-term partnership with the family-owned group Vandemoortele.”
The transaction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025 (subject to authorizations in the meantime).
Photos: Vandemoortele
