Polish meat processor eyes investments and consolidation
“Within Cedrob group, we are planning to build two new feed mills and a slaughterhouse with a capacity of three million head per year. Currently, our slaughtering capacity is 900,000 head per year,” Andrzej Goździkowski, chief executive of the Polish group, told local business daily Rzeczpospolita.
Investments in pig breeding
Cedrob is also aiming to establish closer cooperation with 500 local farmers in Poland, who would launch pig farms and become the group’s suppliers.
Goździkowski said that, in the next 10 years, the selected pig breeders would invest about PLN1bn (€223.5m) to establish new farms, and their investments would be financed from bank loans.
“The entire investment programme in the pig sector is worth PLN3bn, which comprises not only the capital that will be invested by Cedrob group, including [subsidiary meat processor] Gobarto, but also by our partners,” he said. “We are currently drafting the conceptual part of the programme.”
As part of the project, Cedrob aims to develop the pork meat processing capacities of its plants in Poland.
To finance its investments, Cedrob is seeking to secure about PLN300m (€67m) from new potential investors. Among others, the company is currently in talks with the Polish Development Fund (PFR), a government-run investment fund that was set up by the incumbent government with the aim to support innovative projects by Polish companies and foster job creation.
“Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Finance Mateusz Morawiecki believes that our programme, which is in line with the government’s Responsible Development Plan, could be one of the potential ways of supporting Poland’s economic growth,” said Goździkowski.
In addition to these plans, Cedrob is also aiming to consolidate its group by taking over 34% of the shares in its subsidiary, local meat processor Gobarto SA, which formerly operated under the name of PKM Duda SA. Cedrob already controls a 66% stake in the company and, last November, the group offered to pay Gobarto’s minority shareholders a total of PLN63.3m (€14.1m) to acquire the remaining shares. The offer is valid until January 16, 2017. Should the group succeed in taking over full control over Gobarto, Cedrob aims to withdraw its subsidiary from the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), where its stock has been listed since January 2003.
Cedrob said its portfolio consisted of a wide range of processed poultry meat products, and its subsidiaries also processed pork meat.
The Polish group operates feed mills in Gumowo, Raciąż and Rypin, three poultry meat processing facilities in Ciechanów, Ujazdówek and Niepołomice, two meat processing plants in Ciechanów and Ciechanowiec, and a network of retail stores in various parts of Poland, according to data from Cedrob.
The Ciechanów-based group was set up in 1991.
