Wezep – Nordhorn, 1 September 2020 – Plukon Food Group B.V. and Optibrut GmbH today announced that they have entered into an agreement in principle for the acquisition by Plukon of 51% of the shares in the German hatchery Optibrut.
Plukon is best known as a major European player in the poultry sector. The acquisition of the German Optibrut is in line with Plukon’s ambition to invest further in the quality of its chicken chains.
Optibrut, built in 2017, is one of the most modern hatcheries in Western Europe. Optibrut has been an important strategic partner of Plukon since the start. Optibrut supplies day-old chicks, mainly for the Dutch and German markets, both to broiler farmers who supply Plukon and to third parties. The use of early feeding and the control of the entire parent animal chain, partly in-house, are important reasons for the acquisition.
The integration of Optibrut within Plukon is part of the joint desire to further deepen the quality and cooperation in the chain together with the poultry farmers. With the acquisitions of DUC in France (2017) and recently VMR in Spain (2020), Plukon has already acquired hatcheries within its ranks. As a result of these experiences, Plukon grew the desire to apply the advantages of a further integrated chain approach with early nutrition in other countries where Plukon is active.
Plukon expects early nutrition to become the standard in the Netherlands and Germany in the coming years. With the takeover of Optibrut, a major step has been taken towards achieving this goal.
Optibrut already has good experience with an integrated approach to rearing parents, breeding farms under its own management and under the direction of delivery of day-old chicks with early nutrition to broiler farmers. Both parties are therefore looking forward to share this knowledge and experience with a common focus, to take valuable further steps to improve chain efficiency, sustainability and animal welfare, which should ultimately result in a better end product for consumers.
Plukon is pleased that the current shareholders of Optibrut, Messrs Groot Koerkamp and Knol, will continue to lead the joint venture and looks forward to further long-term cooperation.
